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Deepak Pandey

Contact: +91 020 2560 4100

E-mail: deepak.pandey[at] iucaa [dot] in

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Prof. Deepak Pandey earned his doctoral degree in Quantum Optics at Raman Research Institute in Bangalore, India. He then moved to L'Institut d'Optique Bordeaux, France to research on the topic of ultra-cold atoms, Bose-Einstein-Condensate and optical resonators.

During his postdoctoral tenure at the University of Bonn, Germany, he further expanded his expertise in the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity-QED), working with systems involving single-atoms trapped inside optical cavities. He also specialized in the sophisticated design of fiber-based resonators and investigated their applications in atomic physics, sensing, and quantum technology.

Prior to joining IUCAA in 2025, he worked as a Project Leader at Menlo Systems GmbH in Munich, where he led research initiatives focused on optical resonator systems, atomic clocks and their applications.

His current research interests include instrumentation for the LIGO-India project, quantum state generation using cavity-QED systems, precision measurements, and quantum technologies at the interface of astronomy and astrophysics.

Nikhil Mukund

Contact: +91 020 2560 4111

E-mail: nikhil [at] iucaa [dot] in

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Prof. Nikhil Mukund is an experimental gravitational-wave physicist working on precision interferometry, detector commissioning, and intelligent instrumentation for current and future gravitational-wave observatories. Before joining IUCAA in 2026, he was a Research Scientist at the MIT LIGO Laboratory, where he worked on laser-beam control and the transfer of embedded-AI techniques from tabletop optical systems to LIGO-scale subsystems. He was also a Junior Investigator at the NSF Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI), focusing on agentic-AI workflows for experimental physics and scientific discovery. Earlier, he worked as a Junior Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics/AEI Hannover, contributing to the commissioning and characterization of the GEO600 gravitational-wave detector. His doctoral work at IUCAA involved work at LIGO Livingston and Caltech, focusing on seismic, gravity-gradient, and transient noise in gravitational-wave detectors, along with adaptive noise-cancellation and related control strategies. At IUCAA, his research is centered on LIGO-India instrumentation and commissioning, with emphasis on interferometer sensing and control, optical coating thermal-noise measurements, and gravity-gradient studies. In parallel, he uses model-based systems engineering and reinforcement learning to make complex experimental systems more adaptive, diagnosable, and controllable.

Siddharth Maharana

Contact: +91 020 2560 4100

E-mail: siddharth.maharana[at] iucaa [dot] in

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I am an observational and experimental astrophysicist at IUCAA. My research aims at combining the development of new astronomical instruments and observational techniques with their application to a range of astrophysical problems. My interests include developing advanced polarimetric, spectroscopic, and integral-field techniques to study interstellar dust and magnetic fields, exoplanets, and astrophysical transients such as supernovae.

One important question I am currently pursuing is how the physical and chemical properties of dust vary and evolve across different environments in the Galaxy and the nearby Universe. For this, I am developing new optical and near-infrared instruments to carry out the largest spectropolarimetric survey of interstellar dust in our Galaxy and nearby galaxies.

Naresh Dadhich

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Professor Dadhich made seminal contributions to relativistic gravitation and its applications to astrophysics and cosmology. His research also advanced the understanding of higher-dimensional Gauss–Bonnet gravity and its implications for four-dimensional spacetime, as well as fundamental conceptual issues in the unification of forces and quantum gravity. Beyond his scientific research, he was deeply committed to promoting a meaningful dialogue between science and society.