Welcome to the Department of Physics
Welcome to the Department of Physics at University of Colombo. Here you will find information on the department’s undergraduate and postgraduate programs, course offerings, research interests, facilities and special events.
The Department of Physics of the University of Colombo is the oldest and one of the most prestigious physics departments in the university system of Sri Lanka. It was established in 1921 under the University College affiliated to the University of London. Later it became the Department of Physics of the former University of Ceylon when it was established in 1942.
While focusing on undergraduate teaching with a blend of carefully developed theory and practical courses, the department has also earned a high reputation for its popular postgraduate and external courses, training programs and professional services extended to both the public and private sectors.
Department of Physics
University of Colombo
PO Box 1490
Colombo 00300
Sri Lanka
Phone : +94 011-258 4777
Email : office@phys.cmb.ac.lk
Reach Us
Head
Prof. Chandana Jayaratne
Email : head@phys.cmb.ac.lk
EXPLORE OUR PROGRAMMES
People
The research strength of the department is mainly focused on five broad research themes supported by the senior academic staff. The areas of postgraduate level research that is currently taking place are given in the following table
- Climate Change
- Climate modeling
- Extreme weather events
- Molecular Dynamics
- Modeling natural systems
- Image processing
- Machine vision
- Autonomous robot navigation
- Spin glasses and disordered systems
- Atomistic modeling and simulations (Generalized-ensemble Monte Carlo, Molecular dynamics, Spin dynamics)
- Adiabatic quantum computation
- Physics-inspired solvers for discrete optimization
- Application of technology
- Reconfigurable Computing
- Embedded Systems
- Passive LIDAR
- Optical Instrumentation
- Flexible Electronics
- Lightning Generated Electric Fields
- Acoustics (Thunder Signatures)
- Lightning protection
- Dynamic stability
- FISH Imaging
- Multispectral Imaging
- Optical Spectroscopy
- Raman Spectroscopy
- Passive LIDAR
The Department of Physics has actively engaged in research programs since 1940. The research activities accelerated during the last two decades with the inception of the international science programs of the Upsala University,Sweden. Several items of research equipment were purchased through their generous grants, and scientists were trained under its collaborative link programs. More recently, the Japanese government under the Japanese Grant Aid program to upgrade scientific education in the faculty of science, donated a large number of sophisticated equipment to the department. The department’s research activities are backed up by a fully equipped mechanical workshop with a well trained staff. In addition to the use of these facilities for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, the department is in a position to render scientific services to out side individual / organizations. The purpose of this program is not in any way profit oriented, but to acquire some financial support, whilst simultaneously serving and assisting other institutions. The funds receive will be utilized mainly for maintenance and repair of the expensive instrumentation.
Services in Lightning and Atmospheric Physics
Consultancy Service in Lightning Protection
- Investigations are undertaken to establish the cause of damage made by lightning.
- Measurements are made on site to asses the required levels of protection.
- Protection of buildings and structures from lightning direct hits.
- Installation lightning arresters.
- Protection of delicate electronic instrumentation from transients due to lightning electromagnetic pulses (LEMP).
- Lightning induced over voltages in power and telecommunication networks.
Consultancy Service in Electrostatics
Consultancy Services are backed by comprehensive research and development whenever necessary. Routine tests, for example power resistivity, charge ability, minimum ignition energy can be performed.
At present we are capable of dealing with following areas
- Dust flammability assessment
- Fire and explosion due to electrostatic discharges
- Anti static flooring assessment (In Electronic and Semiconductor Industry)
- Eliminating of static charges on insulators (In Plastic Industry)
Consultancy Service in Atmospheric Physics and Atmospheric Electricity
Industrial problems associated with humidity, temperature, rainfall, atmospheric pressure, leakage currents due to ions in the atmosphere, space charge density, high electric fields corona discharge and many more can be dealt with.
Services in Nuclear Physics
A state of art high pure Germanium Gamma ray detector with very high resolution is available for Radioactive measurements of a given sample and identification radioactive elements present in a given sample and their relative abundances. (Resolution 2.0 KeV ( FWHM) at 1.33 Mev. Relative efficiency 15%, Peak/Compton 40:1)
Mechanical Workshop Facilities
The department’s Mechanical workshop undertakes the construction of items out of wood, plastic, glass and metal. Modern equipment are available for such work with qualified personnel supervised by a workshop engineer.The following workshop facilities are also available. Precise machine works using.
- Center lathe machine
- Milling machine
- Shaping machine
- Micro lathe machine
- Transformer winding and coils winding
- Glass blowing
- Repairs, modifications and construction of various glass apparatus
Overview
The Department of Physics of the University of Colombo is the oldest and one of the most prestigious physics departments in the university system of Sri Lanka. It was established in 1921 under the then University College affiliated to the University of London. Later it became the Department of Physics of the former University of Ceylon when it was established in 1942. While focusing on undergraduate teaching with a blend of carefully developed theory and laboratory courses, the department has also earned a high reputation for its popular postgraduate programs and external degree program, skills training programs and various professional services extended to both the public and private sectors. The department has established two units – Centre for Instrument Development (CID) and Physics Education Unit – for providing services to the local industry and school education, and for conducting research relevant to the development of the country. The facilities of the department include two general physics laboratories, two computer laboratories, one electronics laboratory and a fully equipped mechanical workshop.
Throughout the past decades it has played a pioneering role in the training of physicists and in the development of physics education and research in the country. Today it continues to be at the forefront in such endeavors. A large number of physics graduates, produced by the department, hold high positions in both academic and professional institutes throughout the world.
Academic Programs
The department offers physics courses for the first, second and third year general degree programs, where the total number of students exceeds over 400. The department also conducts dedicated 4-year degree programs specialized in Physics, Engineering Physics, and Computational Physics. These programs have been designed to provide students with an up-to-date knowledge in the subject area and soft skills. The students following the special degree programs are well equipped to continue their education at postgraduate level or to be employed in the industry. Every academic year, 30 students are selected on a competitive basis to follow the special degree programs. In 2016, the department introduced a new 4-year honours degree program in IT and Electronics focusing mainly on the local industry.
Apart from MPhil and PhD research programs, the department offers two MSc programs, namely, MSc in Applied Electronics and MSc in Physics Education.
Services
The Department offers a wide range of services and consultancies to the state and private sector organization. The main areas include lightning protection, Industrial automation, thin film coating, high temperature treatments, and construction of school laboratory equipment. In addition, the department trains school students for the International and Asian Physics Olympiad, International Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad and Junior Science Olympiad Competitions.