IIT Madras hosts National Workshop on Next Generation Laser Technologies

CHENNAI : Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) hosted a workshop on Next Generation Laser Technologies today (2^nd May 2023) as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Office of Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research (IC&SR), IIT Madras.

The key objective was to bring together experts from across the country and discuss how India can advance in the field of Laser Systems and develop the technology indigenously.

The workshop was organized by the DRDO Industry Academia – Ramanujan Centre of Excellence (DIA-RCoE), IIT Madras, and the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras. It provided an opportunity to the research scholars, scientists, next-generation faculty, and industry captains to know about this disruptive technology which is going to be a game changer in defence technology.

Considering the domination of drones in the sky and in the sea, lasers are being explored for weapon, communication and many more applications.  In order to achieve ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ in this domain, the workshop intends to lay a clear approach for futuristic development after brainstorming and panel discussion among the eminent professors, industry experts, scientists and researchers for development of technology and systems for our defence services.

Addressing the workshop, Shri Haribabu Srivastava, Director General (Technology Management), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said, “The speed with which other countries are moving forward in this technology is tremendous and we need to move fast as well and reduce the gap between India and rest of the world. We need to take current capabilities to where the world is today and marshall the resources required to achieve this. The technology should be home-grown and not imported.”  Shri.Haribabu Srivastava emphasised to prepare a road map along with sharable with various Institutions who have domain expertise.

Speaking earlier, Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Adviser to Raksha Mantri, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, said, “We have to develop technologies on a timeline similar to the other countries. Laser is a key technology with enormous applications in areas ranging from healthcare and manufacturing, especially precision manufacturing and the defence sector. Weaponisation of laser has already begun with an example being the Iron Dome project of Israel, which has now been upgraded with lasers.”

Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy added, “We need to make not only the technology but also the critical sub-systems and components in India. We need to look at a synergistic approach between different institutions.”

Eminent Professors from various IITs across the country are participating and delivering talks on Laser technology. They include professions from IIT Mandi, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IISc Bengaluru, and IIT Madras, among others.  Other experts from Industry and Research Institutions are also delivered talks in this domain.  The officials who took part were from various institutions including SFO Technology, BEL, DRDO – CHESS Hyderabad, NPOL Kochi and CSIR – CGCRI, Kolkata.

Speaking earlier, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “We need to establish a ‘Defence Incubator’ that will develop technologies not only for the strategic sectors but will also have civilian uses. The civilian applications will lead to commercialization, which will generate funds to ensure sustainability of the products being developed. ‘Atmanirbhar’ can be achieved only when defence sector products have a civilian component as well.”

Prof. Manu Santhanam, Dean (Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research), IIT Madras, Prof. Balaji Srinivasan, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras and Dr. O.R. Nandagopan, Director, DRDO Industry Academia- Ramanujan Centre of Excellence’ (DIA-RCoE), also spoke on the occasion.