Ziyad Thekkayil, ziyad.thekkayil@temple.edu
I joined The Borguet group at Temple University as a graduate student in the summer of 2022, via the Dual Masters Doctoral Degree (DMDD) program, a joint initiative between the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, India, and Temple University.
I was admitted to IISER Pune in 2018 as a BSMS student. I am a fellow of the INSPIRE-SHE (Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research – Scholarship for Higher Education) program by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. From the summer of 2019, I worked as an undergraduate research student under the guidance of Dr. Pankaj Mandal at IISER Pune, focusing on the nonlinear optical properties of lead halide perovskites. I achieved hands-on experience in laser spectroscopic techniques and detection and built a Z-scan spectrometer under the guidance of graduate students. In addition, I received experience in the analysis of ultrafast Optical Kerr Effect spectra and Pump-Probe THz spectra. I also completed a research project studying the third harmonic generation in 1-Dimensional lead halide perovskitoids. For my MS project at Borguet group, I worked on a wavelength-dependent nonlinear optical study of Weyl semimetals.
As a Ph.D. student in Dr. Borguet’s group, I am studying the impact of surface chemistry on the topological states of Weyl semimetals using ultrafast nonlinear optical techniques. I am also developing a tunable repetition rate broadband mid-IR source for nonlinear spectroscopy.