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Scientific Contributions of Prof. S. Asokan
The most significant contributions of Prof. S.
Asokan are in the area of glass science &
technology and also in Instrumentation. His
pioneering and sustained research over the last
two decades has led to the better understanding
of the influence of the local structure on
various properties of chalcogenide glassy
semiconductors. Particularly, he has made
seminal and perhaps most beautiful contribution
in glass science, by unraveling the role played
by network topological thresholds on the
electrical, thermal and optical properties of
chalcogenide glasses. In fact, his earlier work
two decades ago, provided the first direct
experimental evidence for the existence of
topological thresholds in chalcogenide network
glasses.
One of the most fascinating properties of
chalcogenide glasses, having technological
relevance, is their ability to switch between
insulating and conducting states at a critical
voltage. Non-Volatile Random Access Memories
(NVRAMs), based on the phenomenon of electrical
switching in glassy chalcogenides, are being
considered recently as a possible replacement
for conventional flash NVRAMS. The main
advantages of chalcogenide phase change memories
is their direct write/overwrite capability,
lower voltages of operation, large write/erase
cycles, easiness to integrate with logic, etc.
Through his thorough investigations, Prof. Asokan
has arrived at a deeper understanding of the
technologically important phenomenon of
electrical switching. His exhaustive research
work has also brought out clearly, the
correlation between the switching behavior and
other materials properties of chalcogenide
glasses. In particular, his recent work has
shown for the first time the microscopic
structural origin of electrical switching.
Further, based on his work, he has also
suggested a new glassy system which has better
performance characteristics compared to the
commercial glass used in the fabrication of
memory devices.
Another important contribution of Prof. Asokan is
in the indigenous development of scientific
instruments. He has designed and developed many
instruments such as high pressure systems for
electrical studies; photo-acoustic,
photo-pyroelectric & photo-thermal deflection
systems for the measurement of optical & thermal
properties; microwave histo-processor for
pathological investigations, etc.
Prof. Asokan’s recent research on the development
of newer techniques for monitoring strains using
fiber optic sensors, has addressed the important
national need of developing integrated systems
for structural health monitoring of aircrafts,
ships, etc. This work has an immediate relevance
to both defence and civilian applications. He is
also involved in the development for a fiber
optic sensor system for underwater application
including tsunami sensing, which is noteworthy.Apart from the engineering applications,
prof Asokan’s group is also involved in many interesting and challenging FBG sensing applications in biomedical domain.
His group has been working on design and development of novel biomedical sensing device
which are aimed to aid the medical fraternity in providing the efficient and accurate early lever diagnostic devices.
The developed devices includes Fbg based eye tracker for neurological disorders, fbg based arterial pulse acquisition device,
fbg based sensing system for tumor detection, gait analysis, studying the cardiovascular bio markers,protein sensing,heavy metal detection,DNA sensing and many more.
These devices and sensing systems are intended to aid medical fraternity, researchers and also the patients. |
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