Sajith V Sadasivan

Post : Research Associate, CQTS

I have always been captivated by the power of physics in its ability to explain the microscopic and macroscopic world around me and its impact on day-to-day living. To strengthen my grasp of physics after my higher secondary education, I joined St. Thomas' College, Thrissur, Kerala, one of the esteemed degree-granting institutions in India, for B.Sc. course in Physics. I relished exploring the literature, utilizing the library, and engaging in discussions with instructors and peers about the marvels of physics. I graduated as the top-ranked student in physics at the university. During the same period, I was selected among the top 20 students in the state-level Talent Search Examinations (TSE) conducted exclusively for physics students by the Association of Physics Teachers (APT), Kerala, India. This motivated me to learn physics further, and with this interest, I joined the Department of Physics, University of Calicut in Kerala, India, to pursue my Master's degree (M.Sc. Physics). I was inspired to gain a deeper understanding of theoretical physics (especially quantum mechanics) by the guidance I received from the luminaries in the department. During the internship program (as a part of M.Sc. course) at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Satellite Centre, Bangalore, Govt. of India, I got an opportunity to work with the ISRO scientists as a part of the High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS) payload employed in the Aditya L1 Mission (India's first space-based solar mission to study the Sun). This inspired me to think outside the box and instilled the idea of collaborative efforts.

Upon completion of my Master's degree, I enrolled in the Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) program at University of Calicut, where, I focused on advanced nuclear physics and developed a taste for conducting research. Simultaneously, I qualified various prestigious national entrance exams conducted for entry to doctoral programs and for the award of a lectureship. Fueled by my passion for theoretical physics and the potential applications of quantum mechanics, I decided to delve deeper into its intricacies, meticulously examining them by embarking on my Doctoral Research journey at the prestigious Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Department of Space, Govt. of India. Here, I specialized in solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy under the mentorship of Dr. S. Jayanthi, Department of Physics. Entering the complex world of spin dynamics in solid-state NMR experiments involving quadrupolar nuclei, I worked out the quantum mechanical and tensorial calculations, with a strong emphasis on the theory supported by numerical simulations. Later, I joined the Central NMR Facility at the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune, India, as a Project Associate, where I delved into experimental solid-state NMR, further expanding my expertise in experimental techniques.

During my Doctoral studies, I developed a deep interest in the transformative field of hyperpolarization techniques using Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) due to its vast potential and recent advancements. Motivated by this passion, I joined the interdisciplinary Quantum eXploration (iQX) Lab as a Postdoctoral Associate in October 2023, working under the mentorship of Dr. Asif Equbal at the Center for Quantum and Topological Systems (CQTS) at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). My research at NYUAD focuses on light-activated DNP, an innovative approach that creates highly polarized electron spins via optical pumping. This technique aims to address critical limitations of traditional DNP, offering the potential to dramatically enhance the sensitivity of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) by several orders of magnitude while functioning at room temperature. Recent advances in light-activated DNP have identified promising candidates for room-temperature hyperpolarized spectroscopy and imaging, as well as materials science applications. These include molecules or chromophores that, when exposed to ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) light, generate non-persistent radicals, transient radical pairs, triplet states, or even triplet-doublet configurations within chromophore-radical complexes. My primary objective is to design and develop these molecules and chromophores and create a new microwave irradiation scheme tailored to these systems owing to the transient nature of the electron spins. To achieve this, I am deeply involved in utilizing advanced theoretical frameworks to decipher the spin physics of the problem under study and state-of-the-art computational techniques for numerical simulations, intending to develop quantum sensors for practical NMR/MRI applications. I am passionate about exploring the interdisciplinary nature of my field, integrating theoretical, numerical, and experimental knowledge to drive innovation and make meaningful contributions to the rapidly evolving fields of science and medicine.