Nikesh Vellu Valappil
(Nikesh V. V.)
Kakkamani House, Punnacherry, PO Cherukunnu, Kannur, Kerala, 670301, India Email: ********@*****.***, Cell Phone: +91-908******* EDUCATION
Ph.D. Physics 2004, Department of Physics, Univeristy of Pune, Pune, India Thesis: “Photophysics of Zinc Sulphide and Zinc Selenide Based Quantum Structures”
M.Sc. Physics 1997, Department of Physics, University of Pune, Pune, India RESEARCH & TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2017-present Account Manager Accendere KMS, Subsidiary of CL Educate.
Manage a team of three Research mentors at a client location.
Conduct sessions to motivate undergraduate students towards research.
Managing a program to improve the quality of research work done by graduate and under-graduate students.
2014-2016 Science Communicator Accendere KMS, Subsidiary of CL Educate.
Mentoring the under-graduate students in their research projects.
Managing a program to improve the quality of research work done by graduate and under-graduate students.
Helping students communicate their research work to Peer-reviewed journals. 2014-2014 Lecturer Centre for Science in Society, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, Kerala.
Managing a program for popularizing science to school and undergraduate students.
Conducting workshops for school teachers in teaching science to students through models and experiments.
Designing experiments and gadgets to demonstrate science to students using simple easily available materials
2013-2014 Lecturer & Head Physics Department, Taliparamba Arts and Science College, Kannur, Kerala.
Teaching Physics Courses to Under-graduate and Post-Graduate students.
Mentored 5 Post-graduate students in their research projects.
Manage the academic activities and carry out the administrative responsibilities. 2010-2013 Visiting Fellow Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.
Design & fabrication of Metallo-Dielectric structures using e-beam lithography.
Developed a theoretical model for proximity error correction in electron beam lithography
Experimentally demonstrate the model in high density waveguide structures.
Optical characterization of the Plasmonic and photonic structures. Nikesh Vellu Valappil
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Micro-photoluminescence of L3 and H1 photonic cavities at low temperatures using continuous flow He cryostat.
Design of Metallo-Dielectric structures using Finite Difference Time Domain codes
2006-2009 Post-Doctoral Fellow Physics Department, Queens College of the City University of New York (CUNY), NY, USA
Fabrication and study of optical properties of spin-coated planar photonic crystals embedded with quantum dots.
Demonstrated lasing in a spin-coated flexible polymeric microcavity embedded with InGaP quantum dots.
Study of light propagation in an active quasi-periodic Fibonacci photonic crystal.
Setting up of optical setup for reflection and transmission measurements.
Probing Y-shaped DNA structures with time resolved FRET. 2000-2006 Senior Research Fellow Department of Physics, University of Pune, Pune, India
Synthesized and studied structural and optical properties of ZnSe, ZnS, ZnO and Cu2O quantum dots.
Carried out non-linear optical studies of ZnS quantum dots using Z-scan technique.
Established a High Resolution Low Temperature Photoluminescence Setup.
Studied the electronic structure of ZnSe, ZnO and ZnS nanoparticles using Low Temperature Photoluminescence Spectroscopy.
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Characterization Techniques
Scanning Electron Microscopy and Electron Beam Lithography
Optical Spectroscopy, UV-VIS-NIR absorption, reflection and transmission spectroscopy
Atomic Force Microscopy
Time Resolved Spectroscopy (using Time Correlated Single Photon Counting)
Low Temperature Photoluminescence Spectroscopy
X-ray Diffraction
Other Experiences
Thin film growth by physical vapor deposition, sputtering
Development of thin film devices by spin coating
Handling and use of High Vacuum systems
Working in a Class 1000 clean room
Design, development, testing and alignment of optical systems
Handling and using of optics setup, lasers, various spectroscopic techniques
Closed cycle He cryostat and continuous flow He cryostats Languages and Softwares
Fortran, Labview, Matlab, Origin.
Nikesh Vellu Valappil
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REFEREED PUBLICATIONS
“Plasmonic Quasicrystals with Broadband Transmission Enhancement,” Sachin Kasture, Ajith P. Ravishankar, V. J. Yallapragada, Raj Patil, Nikesh V. Valappil, Gajendra Mulay, and Venu Gopal Achanta, Scientific Reports, 4, 5257 (2014).
“Improved Efficiency of Photoconductive THz Emitters by Increasing the Effective Contact Length of Electrodes,” Abhishek Singh, Harshad Surdi, V. V. Nikesh, S. S. Prabhu and G. H. Döhler, AIP Advances, 3, 122106 (2013).
“A Proximity Error Correction method for Continuous Moving Stage electron beam writing,” Sachin Kasture, Nikesh V. V., Gajendra Mulay and A. V. Gopal, J. Vac. Sci. and Technol.B, 30, 050602 (2012).
“Probing Y-shaped DNA structure with time-resolved FRET,” Subhasish Chatterjee, Jong Bum Lee, Nikesh V. Valappil, Dan Luo and Vinod M. Menon, Nanoscale, 4, 1568 (2012).
“Investigating the distance limit of metal nanoparticle based spectroscopic ruler,” Subhasish Chatterjee, Jong Bum Lee, Nikesh V. Valappil, Dan Luo, and Vinod M. Menon, Biomed. Opt. Express, 2, 1727 (2011).
“Integrated photonics using colloidal quantum dots,” Vinod M. Menon, Saima Husaini, Nicky Okoye, and Nikesh V. Valappil, J. Nanophoton. 3, 031608 (2009).
“Long Electron-Hole Separation of ZnO-CdS Core-Shell Quantum Dots,” Fen Xu, Vyacheslav Volkov, Hanying Bai, Nikesh V. Valappil, Xueyun Gao, Igor Kuskovsky, Hiroshi Matsui, J. Phys. Chem. C, 113, 19419 (2009).
“Luminescence properties of a Fibonacci photonic quasicrystal,” V. Passias, N. V. Valappil, Z. Shi, L. Deych, A. A. Lisyansky, V. M. Menon, Opt. Express, 17, 6636 (2009).
“Photonic emitters and circuits based on colloidal quantum dot composites,” Vinod M. Menon, Saima Husaini, Nikesh Valappil, and Matthew Luberto, Proc. SPIE, 7224, 72240Q (2009).
“Organic photonic bandgap microcavities doped with semiconductor nanocrystals for room- temperature on-demand single-photon sources,” Svetlana G. Lukishova, Luke J. Bissell, Vinod M. Menon, Nikesh Valappil, Megan A. Hahn, Chris M. Evans, Brandon Zimmerman, Todd D. Krauss, C. R. Stroud Jr, and Robert W. Boyd, J. of Mod. Optics, 56, 167 (2009).
“Lasing from InGaP quantum dots in a spin-coated flexible microcavity,” V. M. Menon, M. Luberto, N. V. Valappil, and S. Chatterjee, Opt. Express, 16, 19535 (2008).
“Solution processed microcavity structures with embedded quantum dots,” N. Valappil, M. Luberto, V.M. Menon, I. Zeylikovich, T.K. Gayen, J. Franco, B.B. Das and R.R. Alfano, Photonics and Nanostructures - Fundamentals and Applications, 5, 184 (2007).
“Electron energy levels in ZnSe quantum dots,” V. V. Nikesh, Amit D. Lad, Seiji Kimura, Shinji Nozaki, and Shailaja Mahamuni, J. Appl. Phys. 100, 113520 (2006).
“Exciton structure in sodium doped zinc oxide quantum dots,” Sachin D. Kshirsagar, V. V. Nikesh, and Shailaja Mahamuni, Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 053120 (2006).
“X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic studies of Cu2O nanoparticles,” V. V. Nikesh, A. B. Mandale, K. R. Patil, and Shailaja Mahamuni, Materials Research Bulletin, 40, 694 (2005). Nikesh Vellu Valappil
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“Optical nonlinearity of monodispersed, capped ZnS quantum particles,” V. V. Nikesh, Aditya Dharmadhikari, Hiroshi Ono, Shinji Nozaki, G. Ravindra Kumar, and Shailaja Mahamuni, Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 4602 (2004).
“Highly photoluminescent ZnSe/ZnS quantum dots,” V. V. Nikesh and Shailaja Mahamuni, Semicond. Sci. Technol. 16, 687 (2001).
“Unpinning of surface state at 0.92 eV by nanocrystalline ZnSe on GaAs,” S. S. Hullavarad, V. V. Nikesh, S. R. Sainkar, V. Ganesan, S. Mahamuni, and S. V. Bhoraskar, Thin Solid Films 381, 69 (2001).
“Photophysical properties of ZnS nanoclusters,” N. R. Kumbhojkar, V. V. Nikesh, Anjali Kshirsagar and Shailaja Mahamuni, J. Appl. Phys. 88, 6260 (2000). PATENTS
“Flexible microcavity structure made of organic materials using spin-coating technique and method of making,” Vinod M. Menon, and Nikesh V. Valappil, US Patent # 8,135,052 B2, March 13, 2012.
PRESENTATIONS AT CONFERENCES
“Quantum Dots/Nanomaterials: A Brief Introduction,” Nikesh V. V., Invited Talk at Physics Association, Government Brennen College, Dharmadam, Thalassery, January 2014.
“Nano-Scale Science and Technology: A General Perspective,” Nikesh V. V., Invited Talk at Physics Association, Nehru Arts and Science College, Kanhangad, Kasaragod, January 2014.
“Fabrication of Metallo-Dielectric Nanostructures,” Nikesh V. V., School of Plasmonics, ICTS-TIFR, Hyderabad, June 2012.
“Organic/Inorganic photonic devices based on colloidal quantum dot composites,” Nikesh V. V., Departmental Seminar TIFR, Mumbai, India, May 2010.
“Hybrid photonic devices based on colloidal quantum dot composites,” Nikesh V. Valappil and Vinod M. Menon, American Chemical Society 40th Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting MARM 2008, Queensborough Community College, NY, May 2008.
“Control of spontaneous emission from colloidal quantum dots in a polymer microcavity,” V. M. Menon, N. Valappil, I. Zeylikovich, B. Das, T. Gayen and R. R. Alfano, Material Research Society Fall 2006 Meeting, November 2006, Boston.
“Optical Properties of Zinc Selenide Quantum Dots,” V. V. Nikesh, Amit Lad, Hiroshi Ono, Shinji Nozaki, Shailaja Mahamuni, Photonics 2004, 8-11 December 2004, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, India.
“Photophysical Properties of ZnSe/ZnS Quantum Dots,” V. V. Nikesh and Shailaja Mahamuni, International Workshop on NANO-MATERIALS, 5-8 February 2001, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata, India,
“Studies of Highly Luminescent ZnSe/ZnS Quantum Dots,” V. V. Nikesh and Shailaja Mahamuni, Physics of Nano-Phase Materials, 18-20 December 2000, Pune University, Pune, India.