NISER

EXPERIENCE

• Professor, Reader-F (Jul 2023 - Present): School of Physical Sciences, NISER Bhubaneshwar, India. Ultrafast Terahertz Dynamics.
• Adjunct Advisor (Apr 2021 - Aug 2024): Department of Materials Science, ETH Zürich, Switzerland. TeraDynamics Group, Multifunctional Ferroic Materials.
• Assistant Professor, (Apr 2021 - Jun 2023): School of Physical Sciences, NISER Bhubaneshwar, India. Ultrafast Terahertz Dynamics.
• ​Team Leader (Mar 2019 - Mar 2021): Department of Materials Science, Multifunctional Ferroic Materials, ETH Zürich, Switzerland. TeraDynamics Group.
• Postdoc (Feb 2017 - Mar 2021): Department of Materials Science, Multifunctional Ferroic Materials, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
• Postdoc (Feb 2016 - Jan 2017): Instituto Nanoscienze Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, NEST, Pisa, Italy.
• Postdoc (Nov 2015 - Feb 2016): Ruhr-​Universität Bochum, Chair of Applied Solid State Physics, Bochum, Germany.
• Project Assistant (Aug 2011 - Oct 2011): DCMPMS, Satyendra Nath Bose National Centre for Basic Science, Kolkata, India.

EDUCATION

• Ph.D. (summa-cum-laude), Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany (2012 - 2015)
• ​M.Sc. Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India (2009 - 2011)
• B.Sc. (H), RKMV Belur Math, University of Calcutta, India (2006 - 2009)

Experimental condensed matter physics, ultrafast terahertz spectroscopy, nonlinear spectroscopy  

• SERB Startup Research Grant (2022-2024)
• Institute of Physics (IOP) trusted reviewer status (2020)
• ETH Zurich career seed grant (2018-2020)
• International Max Planck Research School Fellowship for Surface and Interface Engineering in Advanced Materials (IMPRS-SurMat)

Preprints:

1. P. Mukherjee, A. Dutta, S. Bhattacharjee, S. Pal, and R. Mondal, Field-derivative torque induced magnetization reversal in ferrimagnetic Gd_3/2Yb_1/2BiFe₅O₁₂, arXiv.2508.07582 (2025).
2. J. Li, M. Turaev, M. Matsubara, K. Kliemt, C. Krellner, S. Pal, M. Fiebig, and J. Kroha, Discovery of a non-Hermitian phase transition in a bulk condensed-matter system, arXiv:2412.16012 (2024).

Journal Publications (after joining NISER):

1. A. Haldar, K. V. Goyal, R. V. Puranik, V. Dwij, S. Maity, K. R. Khator, S. Ghosh, B. S. Chouhan, G. Kumar, S. P. Senanayak, S. S. Prabhu, and S. Pal, Phonon-polariton mediated dual electromagnetically induced transparency-like response in a THz metamaterial, accepted in Advanced Quantum Technologies, (2025). arXiv.2509.02151 (2025).
2. A. Dutta, P. Shee, A. Haldar, and S. Pal, 2D-THz spectroscopy: Exploring the nonlinear dynamics in quantum materials, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 37, 203002 (2025).
3. J. Li, D. Priyadarshi, C.-J. Yang, U. Pohl, O. Stockert, H. von Löhneysen, S. Pal, M. Fiebig, and J. Kroha, Missing spectral weight in a heavy-fermion system far above the Néel temperature, Physical Review B 111, 035117 (2025).
4. A. Dutta, C. Tzschaschel, D. Priyadarshi, K. Mikuni, T. Satoh, R. Mondal, and S. Pal, Evidence of relativistic field-derivative torque in nonlinear THz response of magnetization dynamics, Advanced Functional Materials 35, 2414582 (2025).
5. A. Dutta, P. Mukherjee, S. P. Sarangi, S. Bhattacharjee, S. Pal, and R. Mondal, Role of material-dependent properties in THz field-derivative-torque-induced nonlinear magnetization dynamics, Physical Review Materials 8, 114404 (2024).
6. E. Gradauskaite, C.-J. Yang, S. Pal, M. Fiebig, and M. Trassin, Magnetoelectric phase control at domain-wall-like epitaxial oxide multilayers, Advanced Functional Materials 35, 2412831 (2024).
7. K. Jagadish, A. Godha, B. Pandit, Y. Jadhav, A. Dutta, J. Satapathy, H. Bhatt, B. Singh, S. K. Makineni, S. Pal, and S. R. Rondiya, Charge carrier dynamics in bandgap modulated Covellite-CuS nanostructures, Small 20, 2405859 (2024).
8. K. Jagadish, G. K. Rahane, B. Sai Kumar, D. R. Borkar, K. Chordiya, S. R Kavanagh, A. Roy, T. Debnath, S. Kolekar, M. Upadhyay Kahaly, S. S. Mali, S. Pal, N. Gasparini, D. P. Dubal, and S. R. Rondiya, Interface-centric strategies in kesterite solar cells: Addressing challenges, solutions, and future directions for efficient solar-harvesting technologies, Small 20, 2402048 (2024).
9. K. Mondal, A. Haldar, A. Pramanik, R. Layek, D. Banerjee, V. R. Soma, S. Pal, and P. Kumbhakar, Enhanced femtosecond nonlinear optical susceptibility and terahertz conductivity in MoSe₂-noble metal nanocomposites, Advanced Optical Materials 12, 2401138 (2024).
10. C.-J. Yang, M. Woerner, O. Stockert, H. v. Löhneysen, J. Kroha, M. Fiebig, and S. Pal, Kondo coherence versus superradiance in a terahertz radiation-driven heavy-fermion systems, Physical Review B 109, 235103 (2024). 
11. P. Shee, C.-J. Yang, S. K. Pandey, A. K. Nandy, R. Kulkarni, A. Thamizhavel, M. Fiebig, and S. Pal, Terahertz crystal electric field transitions in a Kondo-lattice antiferromagnet, Physical Review B 109, 075133 (2024).
12. A. Puthukkudi, S. Nath, P. Shee, A. Dutta, C. V. Rajput, S. Bommakanti, J. Mohapatra, M. Samal, S. Anwar, S. Pal, and B. P. Biswal, Terahertz conductivity of free-standing 3D covalent organic framework membranes fabricated via triple-layer-dual interfacial approach, Advanced Materials 36, 2312960 (2024). 
13. C.-J. Yang, K. Kliemt, C. Krellner, J. Kroha, M. Fiebig, and S. Pal, Critical slowing down near a magnetic quantum phase transition with fermionic breakdown, Nature Physics 19, 1605 (2023).
14. C.-J. Yang, J. Li, M. Fiebig, and S. Pal, Terahertz control of many-body dynamics in quantum materials, Nature Reviews Materials 8, 518 (2023).
15. J. Li, C.-J. Yang, R. Mondal, C. Tzschaschel, and S. Pal, A perspective on nonlinearities in coherent magnetization dynamics, Applied Physics Letters 120, 050501 (2022).
16. C.-J. Yang, J. Li, J. Lehmann, N. Strkalj, M. Trassin, M. Fiebig, and S. Pal, Birefringence of orthorhombic DyScO₃: Towards a terahertz quarter-wave plate, Applied Physics Letters 118, 223506 (2021).

Journal Publications (before joining NISER):

1. S. Pal et al., Origin of Terahertz Soft-Mode Nonlinearities in Ferroelectric Perovskites​, Physical Review X 11, 021023 (2021).
2. S. Markmann, M. Frankié, S. Pal et al., Two-​dimensional spectroscopy on a quantum cascade structure, Nanophotonics 10, 171 (2021).
3. C.-J. Yang, S. Pal et al., Terahertz conductivity of heavy-fermion systems from time-resolved spectroscopy, Physical Review Research 2, 033296 (2020).
4. N. Strkalj, G. De Luca, M. Campanini, S. Pal et al., Depolarizing-​​field effects in epitaxial capacitor heterostructures, Physical Review Letters 123, 147601 (2019).
5. S. Pal et al., Fermi volume evolution and crystal-field excitations in heavy-fermion compounds probed by time-domain terahertz spectroscopy, Physical Review Letters 122, 096401 (2019).
6. C. Wetli, S. Pal et al., Time-resolved collapse and revival of the Kondo state near a quantum phase transition, Nature Physics 14, 1103 (2018).
7. M. Pawlak, S. Pal et al., Simultaneous measurement of thermal conductivity and diffusivity of an undoped Al_0.33Ga_0.67As thin film epitaxially grown on a heavily Zn doped GaAs using spectrally-​resolved modulated photothermal infrared radiometry, Thermochimica Acta 662, 69 (2018).
8. M. Pawlak, S. Pal et al., On the infrared absorption coefficient measurement of thick heavily Zn doped GaAs using spectrally resolved modulated photothermal infrared radiometry, Journal of Applied Physics 122, 135109 (2017).
9. L. Consolino, S. Jung, A. Campa, M. De Regis, S. Pal et al., Spectral purity and tunability of terahertz quantum cascade laser sources based on intracavity difference-frequency generation, Science Advances 3, e1603317 (2017).
10. S. Markmann, H. Nong, S. Pal et al., Two-​dimensional coherent spectroscopy of a THz quantum cascade laser: observation of multiple harmonics, Optics Express 25, 21753 (2017).
11. S. Pal et al., Probing indirect exciton complexes in a quantum dot molecule via capacitance-voltage spectroscopy, Physical Review B 94, 245311 (2016).
12. T. Fobbe, S. Markmann, F. Fobbe, N. Hekmat, H. Nong, S. Pal et al., Broadband terahertz dispersion control in hybrid waveguides, Optics Express 24, 22319 (2016).
13. N. Kukharchyk, S. Shvarkov, S. Probst, K. Xia, H.-W. Becker, S. Pal et al., Nanoscale nonlinear effects in Erbium-​implanted Yttrium Orthosilicate, Journal of Luminescence 177, 266 (2016).
14. T. Fobbe, H. Nong, R. Schott, S. Pal et al., Improving the out-coupling of a metal-metal terahertz frequency quantum cascade laser through integration of a hybrid mode section into the waveguide, Journal of Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves 37, 426 (2016).
15. S. Pal et al., Ultrawide electrical tuning of light-matter interaction in a high electron mobility transistor structure, Scientific Reports 5, 16812 (2015).
16. S. Markmann, H. Nong, S. Pal et al., Spectral modification of the laser emission of a terahertz quantum cascade laser-induced by double-pulse injection seeding, Applied Physics Letters 107, 111103 (2015).
17. M. Malinski, M. Pawłak, Ł. Chrobak, S. Pal et al., Monitoring of amorphization of the oxygen implanted layers in silicon wafers using photothermal radiometry and modulated free carrier absorption methods, Applied Physics A 118, 1009 (2015).
18. H. Nong, S. Pal et al., Narrow-band injection seeding of a terahertz frequency quantum cascade laser: Selection and suppression of longitudinal modes, Applied Physics Letters 105, 111113 (2014).
19. S. Pal et al., Infrared transmission spectroscopy of charge carriers in self-assembled InAs quantum dots under surface electric fields, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 26, 505801 (2014).
20. N. Kukharchyk, S. Pal et al., Photoluminescence of focused ion beam implanted Er³⁺:Y₂SiO₅ crystals, Physica Status Solidi RRL 8, 880 (2014).

Book Chapters:

1. S. Pal et al., Quantum Confinement in High Electron Mobility Transistors in Different Types of Field Effect Transistors - Theory and Applications, InTech Open, ISBN 978-​953-51-3176-2 (2017).

Time-resolved spectroscopy with intense terahertz pulses, exploring ultrafast dynamics in correlated materials across condensed matter

CURRENT MEMBERS:

• Amit Haldar, Ph.D. Student
• Payel Shee, Ph.D. Student
• Arpita Dutta, Ph.D. Student
• Monalisa Pattanaik, Master's Thesis
• Srijan Maity, Potential Master's Thesis
• Subham Mandal, Potential Master's Thesis
• Soumya Prakash Jena, Potential Master's Thesis
• Aayush Jalmeria, Potential Master's Thesis
• Biswajit Mahata, Potential Master's Thesis
• Soumili Banerjee, Potential Master's Thesis

FORMER MEMBERS:

• Dr. Ranjana Rani Das (Postdoc), Currently Assistant Professor grade-1 at Department of Physics, Government Autonomous College Rourkela
• Adarsha Mohit Sahu (Master's Thesis), Currently pursuing Master of Arts from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
• Ashish Panigrahi (Master's Thesis), Currently Research Assistant in Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany
• Debankit Priyadarshi (Master's Thesis), Currently doctoral student at ETH Zurich
• Dr. Chia-Jung Yang (Ph.D. Student at ETH Zurich), Currently Research Scientist at ABB, Switzerland
• Jyotiprakash Satapathy (Master's Thesis), Currently doctoral student at Max-Planck Institute Hamburg
• Aditi Pradhan (Master's Thesis), Currently doctoral student at DESY Hamburg
• Ratul Das (Master's Thesis), Currently doctoral student at University of Pennsylvania, USA
• Dr. Koushik Mondal (Postdoc), Currently postdoc at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
• Dr. Jingwen Li (Ph.D. Student at ETH Zurich), Currently bridge postdoc at ETH Zurich
• Swosti Prakash Sarangi (Master's Thesis), Will join Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics for Ph.D., Halle, Germany
• Kshitij V Goyal (Master's Thesis), Will join EPFL Lausanne for Ph.D., Lausanne, Switzerland
• Nainish Tickoo (Master's Thesis), Will join University of Cologne for Ph.D., Cologne, Germany
• Swayam Panda (Master's Thesis), Will join University of Luxembourg for Ph.D., Luxembourg 

• Even-Semester 2025: Solid State Physics Lab (P347)
• Even-Semester 2025: Int. M.Sc.-Ph.D. Experiments Part 2 (PHY744)
• Odd-Semester 2024: Linear Optics and Lab (P345)
• Odd-Semester 2024: Int. M.Sc.-Ph.D. Experiments Part 1 (PHY741)
• Even-Semester 2024: Nonlinear Optics and Lasers (PH656 and P756)
• Even-Semester 2023: Open Physics Lab (P443 and P444)
• Odd-Semester 2022:  Linear Optics and Lab (P345)
• Even-Semester 2022: Nonlinear Optics and Lasers (PH656 and P756)
• Odd-Semester 2021: Instructor Introduction to Quantum Optics (P462)

• UGCS member for the School of Physical Sciences
• Departmental Seminar Co-ordinator