29th Annual Report (2016-17)

136 Radio Physics Laboratory Radio Physics Laboratory (RPL) is active in experimental areas in astronomy, physics and engineering. Our aim has been to design and demonstrate important experiments related to astronomy in an innovative way, either for scientific purpose or for educating students, enthusiasts and general public. The areas being pursued range from cosmic ray detection to communication using LASERs.Apart from this, RPL is also active in public outreach. Public lectures and demonstrations are organized for students and enthusiasts. Radio AstronomyWinter School is conducted every year for under-graduate students to introduce them the field of radio astronomy. RPLhas been active for over 10 years, and has conducted Radio Astronomy Winter School for 9 years, where over 300 bright students were selected and trained. Nearly 50 of them have gone on to join as research scholars in astronomy and astrophysics. Apart from this more than 40 M.Sc., M.E., and B.E./B.Tech. students have successfully completed their projects at RPL under the guidance of Joydeep Bagchi. Following are the details of experiments and activities carried out by RPL: Noise Fundamental Experiment The Noise fundamental experiment is one of the most important tools to study the noise in any electronic system and instrument. The noise present in all electronic signals limits the sensitivity of many measurements. The thermal noise generated by a resistor at room temperature or the shot noise in diode and transistor can be studied by using this experiment. It is possible to see noise on the display of an oscilloscope and also play with it by changing parameters of noise, like temperature, bandwidth, etc. Importantly, Boltzman constant and charge of electron can also bemeasured using this experiment. Experiments