Share New Delhi: IIT Delhi has established “Prof Ajoy K. Ghatak Chair” for Photonics. A 1985 batch alumni of the Institute, Dr Ramadas Pillai (M.Tech in Applied Optics), President, Nuphoton Technologies has endowed the Chair. The Chair will focus on “Photonics”, the physical science of light (photon) generation, detection, and manipulation through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. The Department of Physics, IIT Delhi has a rich history in optics and photonics research that goes way back to the late 1960s. Initially what started as a very small group of about ten people, has over the years, and has flourished in terms of both research activity and manpower. Today there are more than one hundred people in the department including faculty members, researchers and graduate students, working actively in numerous branches of optics and across disciplines.