Indian Vacuum Society
Technical Physics & Prototype Engineering Division
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400 085

34th Annual Report
2005-2006

It is with great pleasure, I present before this august body, the highlights of the society's activities for the year 2005-2006. The Executive Committee meetings were held regularly to plan and review the work and progress of the Society. During the report year the Executive Committee met 12 times.

Membership

The membership of the Society continued to grow during the year, 12 Life Members, 1 Ordinary Member joined during the year. 1 Life Member expired during the year. The effective membership of the society as on 31st March 2006 is as follows:

The following member expired during the year:

Dr. Patkar D. N. LM 556

We express our heartfelt condolences and share the grief of the bereaved family.

Activities for the year 2005-2006

IVSNS-2005

Indian Vacuum Society National Symposium (IVSNS - 2005) was organized and hosted by Institute for Plasma Research, Bhat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat during 16 - 18 November, 2005. Theme subject of this symposium was "Application of Vacuum Science and Technology to Plasmas". Symposium was attended by 57 participants from IPR and 131 participants from different National Institutes and Industries. There were 15 Invited talks and 68 contributory papers, out of which 25 were in Oral presentation and 43 in Poster presentation.

Prof. Y. C. Saxena welcomed all the participants on behalf of IVSNS - 2005 local organization committee. Mr. A. S. Raja Rao (Ex- President IVS) gave inaugural speech and shared his views and experience on large size national projects. Prof. P. K. Kaw inaugurated the Industrial Exhibition arranged for active interactions between industries and users. Eighteen industries participated in this exhibition and a souvenir-cum- book of abstracts was released and distributed to all participants.

Technical sessions of Symposium started with a theme talk given by Prof. P. I. John (IPR) on "Recent Advances in Vacuum Based Plasma Processing". He discussed the need of vacuum science and technology in plasma processing. Prof. P. I. John discussed the progress being made to improve the efficiency of these techniques from techno-commercial point of view.

A function was organized by IVS to felicitate Dr. R. P. Agarwala and Mr. Y. Ranga Rao for their outstanding contributions in the field of vacuum science and technology. Oral presentations by leading Indian Vacuum industries were made to give overall view of their products and R & D activities. Visits to IPR Laboratories and Facilitation Centre for Industrial Plasma Technology (Gandhinagar) were arranged. Cultural program was arranged in the evening of the second day of the symposium.

A committee, constituted to select two best papers one each in oral and poster presentations presented during the symposium, announced the results in the concluding session of the symposium on last day. Following papers were selected for best paper awards.

Best Oral Presentation (Shri. C. Ambashankaran Best Paper Award):

'Vacuum Performance Studies for the First LINAC Module in Super Conducting Linear Accelerator at IUAC' by S. Kar, R.S. Meena, Manoj Kumar, S. Babu, S.A. Krishnan, A. Chowdhury, J. Chacko, J. Antony and T.S. Datta (presented by S. Kar) Inter-University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi.

Best Poster Presentation (Smt. Shakuntalabai Vyawahare Best Paper Award):

'Beryllium Doped Polycrystalline GaN films: Optical and Grain Boundary Properties' by S. Hussain, M. Pal Chowdhury, R.K. Roy and A.K. Pal (presented by S. Hussain) Department of Material Sciences, Indian Association for Cultivation of Science, Calcutta.

During IVSNS - 2005, a lot of work has been reported on the vacuum brazing systems as well as vacuum brazing process. Complex systems for Tokamak experiments, accelerators and space applications have been reported along with their data acquisition and control systems. A large number of vacuum related techniques have been developed for these experiments. These include leak tight seals using Indium at cryo-temperatures, brazing, vacuum conditioning (baking, GDC), leak testing, out-gassing measurements, large systems with UHV interface etc. Many papers reported interesting work on preparation and characterization of thin films using various techniques.

During the valedictory function Prof. Y. C. Saxena expressed the appreciation and thanked to all who directly and indirectly contributed to make IVSNS - 2005 a grand success.

The IVS-Professor D. Y. Phadke Memorial Prize

The IVS - Professor D. Y. Phadke Memorial Prize, instituted by IVS in memory of our founder President, in the University of Mumbai is awarded every year to the top ranker in M.Sc. Physics examination held by the University. For the year 2005 it was awarded to Mr. Khan Vasim Firoz of University Department of Physics Mumbai University. Our heartiest congratulations to him for this achievement.

Vacuum Science and Technology Award

The Vacuum Science and Technology Award which was to be presented during IVSNS 2005 symposium held in month of November 2005 could not be awarded as there was no valid nomination. The new nominations for this award will be invited before the next IVS symposium.

IVS Office Premises

I am happy to inform that IVS has purchased a new office premises at 302, Mahinder Chambers situated at W. T. Patil Marg, Opp. Dukes factory, Chembur Mumbai 400 071. The said premises was purchase at a total price consideration of Rs. 18,35,000/-.

Future Events

5th A.S. Divatia Memorial Lecture
The fifth A. S. Divatia Memorial Lecture will be organized by the Indian Vacuum Society, Calcutta Zonal Chapter on Thursday, April 6, 2006 at VECC Auditorium Bidhannagar, Kolkata. Dr. N. Venkatramani, Ex-Director, Beam Technology Development Group, BARC will be delivering the lecture on 'Beams and Beam Sources'. Dr. R. K. Bhandari, Associate Director, VECC will preside over the function.

IVSINS 2007

Indian Vacuum Society has planned to organize an International Symposium (IVSINS-2007) during November 2007. Dr. A. K. Ray Director, Beam Technology Development Group, BARC has kindly agreed to be the chairman of the Organising Committee and Dr. S. Kailas Associate Director Physics Group, BARC has given consent as Co-Chairman of Organising Committee. Dr. K. C. Mittal Project Manager, Electron Beam Center, BARC Kharghar will be the Convener. The initial preparations for the event are going on in full swing. A souvenir and proceedings of the symposium will be released during the symposium. An Industrial Exhibition is proposed.

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank Chairman, AEC and Director BARC for all the help and encouragement rendered to us. Thanks are also due to Head, Training & Management Services Division and Administrative Officer-III, BARC Training School Hostel, Anushaktinagar for allowing IVS to hold IVS EC Meetings and other activities at the BARC Training School Hostel. EC thanks the Convener and the Organizing Committee Members, IVSNS 2005. Special thanks are due to the Sustaining Members and Advertisers of Bulletin and sponsors of different events for supporting IVS financially in conducting all our activities. I also thank all the IVS Members for their keen interest and wholehearted support and cooperation in the activities of the Society.

Dr. Tushar M. Desai
Gen. Secretary, IVS