GLOBAL | OPTICS
Courtesy of Lakshminarayan Hazra
Optics in India
Lakshminarayan Hazra
From antiquity to C.V. Raman’s time to today, India has evolved to
become a leader in optical research and industry.
I ndian mythology contains many
examples of the deep sense of appre-
ciation that Indians had for optical phe-
nomena more than two millennia ago.
However, scientific studies in optics did
not emerge until 1895, with Sir Jagadish
Chandra Bose’s pioneering works on
millimeter electromagnetic waves. Bose
also studied the behavior of dielectrics at
high frequencies and double refraction in
birefringent materials.
One of his contemporaries, Jogesh
Chandra Roy, was also intensely engaged
in optics-related activities—so much so
that he was elected Fellow of the Royal
Microscopical Society and the Royal
Astronomical Society (London) in 1901
and 1902, respectively. Then, in the
1920s, Indian optical scientists made
numerous advances in optical spectros-
copy, led by Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata
Raman, who was awarded the Nobel
Prize in Physics in 1930. His group of
researchers also carried out pioneering
work in acousto-optics, vision science
and the science of color.
12 | OPN Optics & Photonics News
Universal
optical test
bench at the
University of
Calcutta.
An optics instrument center was
established in India as early as in 1836.
Called the “Mathematical Instruments
Royal Army and Royal Navy located east
of the Suez Canal during World War II.
Subsequently, the center was renamed
Office,” it was used to repair and main- “National Instruments Limited,” and it
tain surveying optical instruments. Later continued to operate successfully until
on, its scope was enlarged to incorporate the 1990s. In the 1930s, Andhra Sci-
military optical instruments, and the entific—a company that manufactured
center played a major role in the mainte- optical instruments—began operations
nance of all optical instruments for the at Machilipatnam on the east coast; the
company was later absorbed by Bharat
Adapted from Wikimedia Commons
Electronics Limited.
Postgraduate education in applied
and modern optics started in 1953 at the
Chandigarh Dehradun
Nainital
University of Calcutta, Kolkata, followed
Ambala by the physics department of the Indian
Delhi Guwahati
INDIA Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, in
Kanpur
Ahmedabad 1965. Both courses continue to this day.
Kolkata
Indore In the latter years, the National Institute
Kharagpur of Technology in Warangal and the Co-
Mumbai Warangal
Bay chin University of Science and Technol-
Arabian Pune Hyderabad
Sea
of
Bengal
ogy started similar courses in optics and
Bangalore Chennai
photonics. Many other universities pro-
Cochin
vide special papers in optics-related topics
Pondicherry in their master’s program in physics.
Trivandrum
Indian Ocean Optics research and development
Major centers of optics activities in India. centers are now spread all over the
www.osa-opn.org

country. In the north, in Delhi, there
is the Laser Technology Center, the
National Physical Laboratory and IIT
Delhi. At Chandigarh, major activities
in optical instrumentation are carried
out at the Central Scientific Instru-
ments Organization. A cluster of small-
scale industries at Ambala constitute a
hub that is referred to as India’s “Micro-
scope City.”
There are also three centers about
200 km northeast of Delhi at Dehra-
dun—Instruments Research and Devel-
opment Establishment, Ordnance Fac-
tory and Optoelectronics Factory under
the Ministry of Defense. The Aryabhatta
Research Institute of Observational Sci-
ences also runs an observatory.
In the east, at Kolkata, many in-
stitutes carry out optics research and
development, including the department
of applied optics and photonics at the
University of Calcutta, the Central
Glass and Ceramic Research Institute
and the Indian Association for the Cul-
tivation of Science. Optics research is
also conducted at the Bose Institute and
Satyendra Nath Bose National Centre
for Basic Sciences at Kolkata and at
Burdwan University.
In western India, the major optics
R&D centers are the Tata Institute of
Fundamental Research, the Bhaba Atom-
ic Research Center and IIT Bombay—
all of which are located in Mumbai—as
well as the Physical Research Labora-
tory and the Space Application Center
in Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of
Tropical Meteorolgy at Pune.
The Inter-University Consortium for
Astronomy and Astrophysics at Pune
runs a radiotelescope. In central India,
the Raja Ramanna Center for Advanced
Technology at Indore is a major R&D
center for optics and lasers. The facility
houses two locally built synchrotrons,
INDUS -1 (450 MeV), which has five
beamlines, and INDUS-2 (2.5 GeV),
with nine beamlines. At Hyderabad,
R&D works in optics and laser in-
strumentation are carried out at the
University of Hyderabad, and Electro
Optics Instruments Research Associa-
tion, respectively.
Display
hologram
produced at
Light Logics,
Trivandrum.
The Optical Society of
India was founded in
1965. It is a nonprofit
professional society
of scientists and
technologists from
educational institutions,
R&D organizations
and industry.
In the south, major R&D centers
include the Indian Institute of Science,
the Raman Research Institute, the Lasers
and Electro Optical Systems and the
Indian Institute of Astrophysics (all in
Bangalore), IIT Madras at Chennai,
Vikram Sarabhai Space Center and
Kerala University (both at Trivandrum).
IITs at Kanpur, Kharagpur and
Guwahati have undertaken significant
optics-related research activities. Many
other state and central universities also
have major research programs in areas
related to optics and photonics.
Currently, the optics industry in
India is undergoing a metamorphosis.
In the wake of the global recession, a
few traditional optics companies have
gone out of business. Nevertheless, other
Courtesy of P.T. Ajithkumar, Trivandrum
companies, including General Optics
at Pondicherry, Appaswamy Associates
at Chennai, Olympus India at Delhi,
Lensel Optics at Pune and Labotron at
Ambala, are adapting to the changes in
the marketplace. In addition, many new
start-up ventures are emerging in fiber
optics, laser systems and holography.
The Optical Society of India (OSI)
was founded in 1965. It is a nonprofit
professional society of scientists and
technologists from educational institu-
tions, R&D organizations and industry.
It represents the Indian Territory in the
International Commission for Optics.
The Journal of Optics, a quarterly journal
published by the OSI since 1972, is
co-published with Springer. The OSI
has memorandums of understanding
with OSA and SPIE. Student chapters
throughout India are participating in
outreach activities. Perhaps their work
will help to inspire the next generation
of optical scientists in India. t
The author acknowledges the contributions
of T.K. Alex, B.P. Pal, P.K. Gupta, A.K.
Gupta, K. Bhattacharya and P.T. Ajithku-
mar. He is also grateful for the assistance of
S. Pal and U. Dutta.
Lakshminarayan Hazra (lakshminarayanhazra@
gmail.com) is a professor in the applied optics
and photonics department at the University of
Calcutta in Kolkata, India. He is currently the
General Secretary of the Optical Society of India.
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