Excellence in research and teaching has been the hallmark of our Department ever since its inception. Apart from our own research at the frontiers, the Department has, over the years, produced some of the brightest minds in physics, active both in the country and all over the world, with several fundamental contributions in the field. The Department has at present 38 faculty members and  is  assisted  by  a  team  of  DST-Inspire Faculty Fellows and Postdoctoral Fellows as part of the academic staff. There are around 120 research scholars engaged in doctoral research.

The Department actively participates in front-line research in several major areas of Physics. The largest group is working in the Physics of Condensed Matter Systems in all its aspects, with interests more or less evenly divided between theoretical and experimental work, with strong cross-pollination of ideas between theory and experiment. Other moderate-size groups include High Energy Physics and Optics. The Ion-Beam Nuclear Solid State and Plasma Physics Group is involved in applying Nuclear Physics Techniques to the study of materials and applications of Ion Beans in Science and Engineering. Other groups include Biological and Statistical Physics, and Nonlinear Dynamics. 

The Department participates  in  the undergraduate Core Courses  in  the B.Tech. Programme, and has started a new BS (4 yr) + MS (1 yr) Programme in Physics (making  effective  use  of  the  flexibility in  the new credit-based undergraduate  Programme, with options for minor and double major in different disciplines)  which includes basic and engineering sciences, workshop practices, courses on computation   as   well   as   courses   on   humanities   and   social   sciences.

The Department has a M.Sc. (2 yr)  Programme as well as a Ph.D. Programme with specialization in many major areas of Physics. The Physics Department also offers a unique time-saving  M.Sc. - Ph.D. (Dual Degree)  Programme  for  those  seeking  to take advantage of our M.Sc. training to accelerate their progress in doctoral work. Further, there is a large variety of courses offered by the Physics Faculty that are of  interest  to  a  number  of  Inter-Disciplinary  Programmes  of  the  Institute. The Physics  Department  also participates  in  the  Laser Technology  and  the  Materials  Science Programmes of the Institute.