Visit to the National Physical Laboratory (NPL)

On 28th September 2017, students of class XIA visited the National Physical Laboratory, which hosted Open Day for students. It was a rich opportunity to visit and acquaint with new techniques and research equipment which may not be always possible otherwise.

We visited two blocks at the lab due to a time constraint. Most of the equipment we saw was something that had a significant role to play in our class XI and XII syllabi. Given below are the things we saw and learnt there.

1. Ultrafast transient absorption spectography with femtosecond laser.
2. Superconductors using liquid nitrogen or liquid helium at -271.4 degrees centigrade
3. Nanostructure of fabrication of polarisation
4. Raman spectography- Raman shift
5. Mobile radiation
6. National standards of mass & length
7. Cesium atomic clock

Whilst we were not familiar with the first three things we saw, we had a good idea about the others as they form a part of our syllabus. Finally, we were escorted to the auditorium where we saw what the NPL does, including the various research projects that are underway.

It was a very valuable learning experience for all of us and we are hopeful of using the knowledge in future.

Abhimanyu Marwah, XI-A.