Ravi

Dr. A. V. Ravi Kumar

Scientific Officer - H

Former Head, Outreach Division

Dr. Anakara Vadakath Ravi Kumar, born in Calicut, Kerala in May 1964, did his schooling in Cochin, his BSc in Physics from Bharat Mata College, Cochin in 1984 and his MSc in Physics from the Maharaja's College, Cochin in 1986. He completed his PhD in Laser Applications from the Department of Physics, Cochin University of Science & Technology in 1993.

He joined the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar, Gujarat, in 1993 as a Scientist and worked on microwave Free-Electron Lasers (FEL). Experimental work lead by him at IPR lead to the generation of microwave FEL radiation from a magnetic wiggler device for the very first time in India.

He was awarded the Japanese Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) post-doctoral fellowship by the Japanese Government from 1999-2001. During this fellowship tenure, he worked on experimental LINAC based Far-Infrared Free-Electron Laser at the Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research (ISIR), Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. He was part of the research team at ISIR that recorded higher harmonic emissions from FEL for the first time using a 10 MeV RF electron Linac.

During 2007-2017, he was working on the Plasma Wakefield acceleration project that was initiated at IPR as part of their Basic Plasma Sciences programme. He also headed the Computer Division of IPR during 2013-2017.

During 2007 to 2018, he played a lead role in establishing and running of the Board of Research in Fusion Science & Technology, (BRFST) which funded R&D projects related to fusion science & technology, which was later recast as Plasma & Fusion Research Committee (PFRC) under the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). Over 200 R&D collaborative R&D projects were successfully undertaken during the period.

Since 2018, he has been fully involved in IPR's scientific outreach activities and over the last two years he and his team has built up resources for various scientific outreach activities and has also organized and participated in numerous national exhibitions and other science & technology events showcasing IPR's research activities and achievements. In the past 5 years, he and his team have organized over 30 plasma outreach events across the country.

He is also an active member of the Plasma Science Society of India (PSSI) since 2007. His other interests include photography, astrophotography, science communication and music.

He was a senior scientist (Scientific Officer - H) and headed the Outreach Division of the Institute for Plasma Research from its inception in 2017 untill his superannuation on 31-May-2024.

He can be contacted at <avravi.ipr@gmail.com>

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