Sunandan Malviya

Hi, I am currently enrolled in a Bachelor's 3 year (Hons) degree course in Physics . I am planning to apply to PhD graduate program of some US colleges. I was confused whether applying to PhD program is any good since many Master's students will also apply and my chances of getting into would be close to zero. Is this true or will they take into account that I am a Bachelor's student while evaluating my Application? Also I have not published any research paper as of yet. Though I am doing a research project currently which might yield a paper by next year. But since I do not have a published paper will my research experience help me in my application? All in all , do I have a non-zero chance in getting into a PhD program in Physics of a good college like Columbia or Yale considering my college academic is great, Toefl score us great, and I have a good research experience in an area in which some of my selected colleges are actively doing research?

Sorry for the late reply. If you are still interested that would be a huge help. Thanks a lot. How should I 'personal message' you ? I am still writing about my program here just in case by pm u meant here: I am interested in applying to Physics PhD Program. I am currently enrolled in a Bachelors degree.

Sure Thankyou. I will remove the rankings.. Though the experience I gained from SSP while in my 11th. I still want to include that. I will change the order of the diversity paragraph. Will you maybe give it a read again once I make the required changes?

Can anyone please evaluate my SOP and give feedbacks on how to improve? I am highly interested in Theoretical Physics and want to pursue the Physics PhD program in your esteemed institution. My primary interest is in the Atomic, Molecular and Optical area of research, particularly in the field of Quantum Optics. I have recently started working under two professors on a project in Quantum Optics. The bases of this project is the paper “Effects of linear and quadratic dispersive couplings on optical squeezing in an optomechanical system” published in Physical Review in 2015. The aim of this paper was to study the quadrature squeezing in the presence of both the linear and the quadratic coupling simultaneously. This facilitates strong squeezing without the requirement of introducing extra degrees of freedom which is usually necessary. Since the project was started recently I am only vaguely familiar with many of its technicalities. As such the initial aim assigned to me is to get familiar with the formalism and application of optomechanical systems and to try to reproduce this paper only with the linear coupling .I have been made familiar with the interpretation of the Hamiltonian used in the paper and have derived the rate equations for position ,momentum and annihilation and creation operators using the Quantum Langevin equation .Further separating each operator in its steady state and fluctuation components , led to a set of non-linear algebraic equations where I had to ignore the non-linear terms and proceed to form the third order polynomial equation of intensity in terms of power corresponding to the Bi Stability of the system. This is what has been done so far by me and the project is in progress. After the initial aim is achieved, the objective is to extend this study using Optical Vortex beams. Even though I am new to this field and have much to learn, I am highly motivated in pursuing this field since it is still growing and is very interesting. One of the areas in which The Taylor Research Group is doing research is at the quantum limits of measurement with the help of quantum optomechanical sensors . Since the project I am doing deals with strong squeezing in optomechanical systems leading to ultra-sensitive measurements I believe I can learn a lot in the Taylor Research Group and also contribute in this area. A very particular interest of mine in the Taylor Research Group is the application of optomechanical sensors and improving their sensitivity for detecting Dark Matter and the resulting theoretical analysis that could be inferred from the results. In terms of diversity, I have a lot to bring to the table. My dad is a Hindu while my mom a Muslim. I have spent my youth years in Goa, a state prevalent in Christian community with a mix of Portuguese culture. Growing up among such diverse religious communities has imbued my personality with diverse values making it flexible, tolerant and accepting. Having been born in the capital of the most populous state in North India and later moving to a Southern State, I have experienced the diverse regional cultures of my country as well. I was never an excellent student in my hometown. When I moved to Goa in the eighth grade the drastically different culture , community and the flurry of new interactions with students and teachers propelled me to make an identity of my own. This new experience pushed me to become an excellent student. After completing my tenth grade I went back to my hometown to complete the rest of my studies . There ,being a top student of my batch ,I was selected to be a part of the Sakura Science Exchange Program (SSP) 2016 , where a group of students were taken to Japan to provide exposure to Japanese technological agencies, laboratories and Universities. This was a very enriching experience. Not only did it boost my passion for Physics but also made me realize the importance of being part of a global scientific community which is essential in order to contribute in this field. Two particular experiences had a major impact on me. First was when we visited a lab in Hokkaido University where the research scientist told us about the wide-range of applications of Photonics such as particle spectroscopy, optical sensing and bio-imaging using fluorescent probes among other things. The information was brief and not very technical but it clearly made me interested in areas concerning light-matter interactions. The second one was in JAXA, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. There the lead researcher explained to us that a major problem for JAXA was the need for young members as the space exploration projects are very long term and scientists who start a project usually get very old till it gets completed. Due to this they designed international programs such as SSP that made international students familiar with Japan and encouraged them to be a part of its educational and cultural body. This was a problem particular to Japan since the median age is high there. But this experience reiterated the importance of being part of an international community where individual shortcomings can be replaced by collective contributions. Physics is a science aimed at unifying different aspects of nature and with the same spirit of unity and interconnectedness should we pursue it. These were the motivations for trying to be part of a diverse and global community of Science, an aspect in which University of Maryland is considered ideal. I aced my twelfth Board Examination and was All India Rank 4 with a 100 in Physics due to which I received the INSPIRE Scholarship. In college, I participated in an NGO named National Service Society (NSS) and was part of their Environment and Disaster Wing. We organized marches for public awareness and Plogging drives. We also visited orphanages ,old age homes and provided left-over food to stray animals. Working for NSS made it clear that no matter the field or the walk of life to which a person belongs, service to society remains the highest of ideals. Maryland tries to serve its community in the best possible manner as is clear by the various events organized by University of Maryland such as the Outreach program and Maryland Day. I hope to participate in these for my holistic development and for giving back to the community. I also hope to get involved in Graduate Student Organizations like the Mental Health Task Force and the Women in Physics Group which aim at serving the student community. While in college I also was a member of LUMEN, The Physics and Electronics Society and took part in discussions and presentations. In the First year I took part in ‘Unearth’ where I gave a qualitative presentation on ‘Quantum Entanglement’ among students of different colleges. I have been a meticulous ,engaging and passionate student and hope to maintain this boundless energy for future endeavors as well. After completing my PhD, I aim to research further in this field of Quantum Optics. I also plan to take the ideas of this field to places where it's relatively new and just growing as in my own country. In terms of its community and research UMD stands out particularly distinguished and thus I believe it would be instrumental in helping me achieve my future goals. My father often tells me that the divinity of one’s soul can be realized by the sanctity of one’s work. Such efforts and work is what I hope to bring to your institution.

(A word document is also attached at the end of the same if this seems too shabby). During my earliest childhood the most important kind of knowledge that I received came to me, rather informally, through the discussions and debates with my dad. As such, asking questions has become an integral part of my personality. The conversations on philosophy, spirituality and religion that I have had as a child with my dad have played a major part in shaping me into who I am today – a critical thinking, curious and reflective individual. My passion for Physics kindled when I embarked on a journey with Morgan Freeman ‘Through the Wormhole’ while trying to search for new cartoon channels on my television set. It immediately hooked me. To me as an eleven-year old the appeal naturally was not intellectual but emotional. ‘How can something be so big that it makes such a big Earth look like nothing?’ such were the questions that started settling in my inquisitive young mind. I had decided early on to pursue something that would present pictures of such marvellous nature to my mind. To me on a personal level, Physics has an appeal of a holy kind not much distinguishable from that of spirituality and philosophy. I am highly interested in Theoretical Physics and want to pursue the Physics PhD program in your esteemed institution. My primary interest is in the Atomic, Molecular and Optical area of research, particularly in the field of Quantum Optics. I have recently started working under two professors on a project in Quantum Optics. The bases of this project is the paper “Effects of linear and quadratic dispersive couplings on optical squeezing in an optomechanical system” published in Physical Review in 2015. The aim of this paper was to study the quadrature squeezing in the presence of both the linear and the quadratic coupling simultaneously. This facilitates strong squeezing without the requirement of introducing extradegrees of freedom which is usually necessary. Since the project was started recently I am only vaguely familiar with many of its technicalities. As such the initial aim assigned to me is to get familiar with the formalism and application of optomechanical systems and to try to reproduce this paper only with the linear coupling .I have been made familiar with the interpretation of the Hamiltonian used in the paper and have derived the rate equations for position ,momentum and annihilation and creation operators using the Quantum Langevin equation .Further separating each operator in its steady state and fluctuation components , led to a set of non-linear algebraic equations where I had to ignore the non-linear terms and proceed to form the third order polynomial equation of intensity in terms of power corresponding to the Bi Stability of the system. This is what has been done so far by me and the project is in progress. After the initial aim is achieved, the objective is to extend this study using Optical Vortex beams. Even though I am new to this field and have much to learn, I am highly motivated in pursuing this field since it is still growing and is very interesting.One of the areas in which The Taylor Research Group is doing research at the quantum limits of measurement with the help of quantum optomechanical sensors . Since the project I am doing deals with strong squeezing in optomechanical systems leading to ultra-sensitive measurements I believe I can learn a lot in the Taylor Research Group and also contribute in this area. In terms of diversity, I have a lot to bring to the table. My dad is a Hindu while my mom a Muslim. I have spent my youth years in Goa, a state prevalent in Christian community with a mix of Portuguese culture. Growing up among such diverse religious communities has imbued my personality with diverse values making it flexible, tolerant and accepting. Having been born in the capital of the most populous state in North India and later moving to a Southern State, I have experienced the diverse regional cultures of my country as well. I was never an excellent student in my hometown. When I moved to Goa in the eighth grade the drastically different culture , community and the flurry of new interactions with students and teachers propelled me to make an identity of my own.This new experience pushed me to become an excellent student. Since then I excelled throughout my academia while also actively participating in co-curricular activities such as being part of the school football team. After completing my tenth grade I went back to my hometown to complete the rest of my studies as it had better Science oriented schools. There ,being a top student of my batch ,I was selected to be a part of the Sakura Science Exchange Program (SSP) 2016 , where a group of students were taken to Japan to provide exposure to Japanese technological agencies, laboratories and museums. This was a very enriching experience. Not only did it boost my passion for Physics but also made me realise the importance of being part of a global scientific community in order to contribute in this field. Two particular experiences had a major impact on me. First was when we visited a lab in Hokkaido University where the research scientist told us about the wide-range of applications of Photonics such as particle spectroscopy, optical sensing and bio-imaging using fluorescent probes among other things. The information was brief and not very technical but it clearly made me interested in areas concerning light-matter interactions. The second one was in JAXA, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. There the lead researcherexplained to us that a major problem for JAXA was the need for young members as the space exploration projects are very long term and scientists who start a project usually get very old till it gets completed. Due to this they designed international programs such as SSP that made international students familiar with Japan and encouraged them to be a part of its educational and cultural body. This was a problem particular to Japan since the median age is high there. But this made me realise the importance of being part of an international community where individual shortcomings can be replaced by combined contributions. Physics is a science aimed at unifying different aspects of nature and with the same spirit of unity and interconnectedness should we pursue it. These were the motivations for trying to be part of a diverse and global community of Science, an aspect in which University of Maryland is considered ideal. I aced my twelfth Board Examination and was All India Rank 4 with a 100 in Physics due to which I received the INSPIRE Scholarship. In college, I participated in an NGO named National Service Society (NSS) and was part of their Environment and Disaster Wing. We organised marches for public awareness and Plogging drives. We also visited orphanages ,old age homes and provided left-over food to stray animals. Working for NSS made it clear that no matter the field or the walk of life to which a person belongs, service to society remains the highest of ideals.The various events organised by University of Maryland such as the Outreach program and Maryland Day seem enriching and exciting. I hope to participate in these for my holistic development and for giving back to the community. I also hope to get involved in Graduate Student Organizations like the Mental Health Task Force and the Women in Physics Group which aim at serving the student community. While in college I also was a member of LUMEN, The Physics and Electronics Society and took part in discussions and presentations. In the First year I took part in ‘Unearth’ where I gave a qualitative presentation on ‘Quantum Entanglement’ among students of different colleges. I have been a meticulous ,engaging and passionate student and hope to maintain this boundless energy for future endeavours as well. After completing my PhD, I aim to research further in this field of Quantum Optics. I also plan to take the ideas of this field to places where it's relatively new and just growing as in my own country. In terms of its community and research UMD stands out particularly distinguished and thus I believe it would be instrumental in helping me achieve my future goals. My father often tells me that the divinity of one’s soul can be realised by the sanctity of one’s work. Such efforts and work is what I hope to bring to your institution. ( I have also added a word document of the same if the above seems shabby) SOP UMD.docx