CV of Dr Ashok Kumar

Name: Dr. Ashok Kumar

Address: Department of Physics
Panjab University, Chandigarh-160014
Email: [email protected]

Date of birth: 30.07.1964

Nationality: Indian

Present Status: Associate Professor

Department of Physics,
Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.

Post Doctoral Experience:

Post Doctoral Fellow (From Oct. 2003- Dec. 2004)
Department of Physics &Astronomy
University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky, USA

Following are the areas of my Research Interest:

(i) Study of Nuclear Structure and lifetime measurements by RDM and DSAM:
The normal rotation in nuclei is associated with the presence of a significant electric
quadrupole moment. As a result, one obtains enhanced electric quadrupole transitions
connecting I = 2 levels in a rotational band. Regions of deformed nuclei where
rotational motion is observed, are now well defined and generally lie between the magic
numbers. Spherical nuclei are few and remain confined to the proximity of magic
numbers. It was therefore very surprising when regular rotational-like features were seen
in nuclei lying close to the magic numbers. These bands have been variously termed as
the ‘magnetic dipole’, ‘magnetic rotational’ or, ‘shears’ band.
In the mass region A ~ 130, proton Fermi surface lies near the bottom of the h11/2 shell, while the
neutron Fermi surface lies in the upper shell. A single particle in high-j orbital induces oblate
shape (γ = −60◦) and a single hole induces prolate shape (γ = 0◦). Therefore, the different
quasiparticle configurations can drive a nucleus to different shapes and sometimes shape
coexistence may be observed in a nucleus. One of the important structures in this region is the
observation of collective oblate bands. However, systematical signature inversion in odd-odd
nuclei is also an interesting subject and this phenomenon is still not fully understood
theoretically. The active proton orbitals for these nuclei are the unique parity intruder h11/2,
d5/2, g7/2 and the extruder g9/2. Moreover, because of the different shape-driving effects for
protons and neutrons, many of the nuclei in this region show triaxiality, which leads to
chiral bands. At present our group is engaged in lifetime measurements and high spin
structure of excited states in the two mass regions, Xe-Ba-Ce and A=170-190. For this
purpose, we are using the 'plunger' device at Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC)
New Delhi and. Lifetimes are extracted using the computer codes LIFETIME and
LINESHAPE by J. C. Wells for RDM and DSAM measurements.
In nearly spherical nuclei the lowest-lying collective states are typically characterized as
quadrupole and octupole vibrational modes. According to the vibrational model, phonons
may act as building blocks of further vibrational structures. The coupling of the one
phonon quadrupole and octupole excitations (2+1⊗3−1 ) give rise to five negative-parity
states, which would lie around the energy given by the sum of the single-phonon
energies. Multiphonon structures have been widely identified in the Pd, Cd, Sn, and Te
nuclei, It is well known that the non selectivity of level excitation provided by the (n, nγ)
reaction at low neutron energies provides a sensitive method for studying low-lying states
regardless of their structure. The population of levels by this reaction is limited only by
the angular momentum that the scattered neutron brings into the system. Because the
neutron energy can be kept close to the threshold for a particular excitation, this reaction
eliminates the side-feeding effects from the population of higher-lying levels, which
otherwise may affect the lifetime determination of the level of interest. These features
lead to accurate transition strengths measurements.

(ii) ION BEAM Analysis: These techniques are based on the atomic and nuclear physics
phenomena but have the applications as diverse as the semiconductor and corrosion
industries as well as in metallurgical, environmental, archaeological, geological, material
sciences, biological sciences, forensic samples and aerosol samples etc. In the Cyclotron
laboratory, both the PIXE and PIGE measurements are being carried out simultaneously
to detect the x-rays and γ-rays, respectively.

(iii) Study of PreScission and PostScission Charged Particle Emission in Heavy Ion
Reactions:
During the course of the fission process, the nuclear system undergoes drastic shape
changes. It is a dynamical process for which the nucleus needs time to deform up to
scission. Neutrons and charged-particle (mainly proton and α-particle) emission take
place from various stages:
(i) From the fissioning compound nucleus (prescission)
(ii) from the accelerated fission fragments (postscission)

Pre-scission and postscission neutron and charged-particle emission spectra and

multiplicities provide important information on the statistical and dynamical aspects of
the fusion-fission process. It is observed that α-particle are also emitted very near the
neck region in the fission process just before scission. This part of prescission α particles
emitted near the neck region is termed as near-scission emission (NSE). The study of the
dynamics of the shape evolution, and in particular the effect of dissipation, is crucial to
our understanding the one-body or two-body nature of the nuclear viscosity. Nuclear
viscosity has the effect of slowing down the fission process leading to fission lifetimes of
the order of 10–100 x10−21 s.
(iv) Study of Dynamical and Entrance Channel Effects using Light Particles:
Over the past few years, there has been a strong interest directed towards inferring the
statistical properties of the hot rapidly rotating nuclei. Evaporative light charged particles
from the compound nucleus have proved to be a powerful probe for the properties of the
emitting nuclei such as the temperature, the effective emission barriers, and the spins. In
the case of the composite nuclei at moderate energies and angular momenta, such as
those produced with light-ion projectiles, the evaporation spectra are well explained in
terms of the standard statistical model employing the optical model transmission
coefficients. However, over the past decade, there have been several claims of serious
discrepancies between the standard statistical model predictions and the experimental
light charged-particle evaporation from heavy-ion fusion reactions. It has been known for
a long time that dissipation influences the formation and decay of the compound nucleus
in the heavy-ion reactions. One example of the process in which the dissipation plays a
role is the mass transfer in the deep-inelastic collisions; a second example is the
hindrance of fusion in certain very symmetric reactions first explained within the
framework of the dissipative dynamical model by Swiatecki and co-workers. The
hindrance of fusion due to the energy dissipation into internal degrees of freedom leads to
a long compound nucleus formation times which might be comparable to the decay times
and thus might have an important influence on the subsequent decay of the compound
nucleus. The assumption of a very short formation time in the statistical model is one
extreme of the general evolution process which in fact is a continuous relaxation process,
leading to the composite system from the entrance channel to the equilibrated
configuration. Recently some authors have suggested the possibility of the dynamical
effects on the de-excitation processes.
In these experiments, we are using E- E telescopes ( Silicon surface barrier detectors).
For the detection of Neutrons we are using the organic liquid scintilatos (NE213) and
time-of- technique to measure the energies of evaporated neutrons with Pulse Shape
Discriminators (PSD)
 Research Publications in Referred International Journals
54. Study of fission time scale from prescission neutron and alpha multiplicities in
16
O+194Pt Reaction
K. Kapoor, S.Verma, P. Sharma, R. Mahajan, N. Kaur, G. Kaur, H. Singh, R. Dubey, N. Saneesh,
G. Mohanto, B. K. Nayak, A. Saxena, A. Jhingan, P. Sugathan, H.P. Sharma, S.K.Chamoli, I.
Mukul, B.R. Behera, K.P. Singh and A. Kumar
Phys. Rev. C. (Communicated)

53. Investigating Prolate-Oblate Shape Inversion in Pt Nuclei Near A – 188

S.K.Chamoli, A.Rohilla, C.K.Gupta, R.P.Singh, S.Muralithar, S.Chakraborty, H.P.Sharma, A.Kumar,
I.M.Govil, D.C.Biswas
Acta Phys.Pol. B48, 337 (2017)

52. Influence of Positive Q-value Neutron Transfer Coupling on Fusion

Enhancement in 28Si+154Sm Reaction
G.Kaur, B.R.Behera, A.Jhingan, R.Dubey, M.Thakur, P.Sharma, R.Mahajan, T.Banerjee, Khushboo,
N.Saneesh, A.Kumar, S.Mandal, B.K.Nayak, A.Saxena, P.Sugathan, N.Rowley
Acta Phys.Pol. B48, 619 (2017)

51.Nuclear structure of 76Ge from inelastic neutron scattering measurements and

shell model calculations
Phys.Rev. C 95, 014327 (2017)

50.Collective quadrupole behavior in 106Pd

F.M.Prados-Estevez, E.E.Peters, A.Chakraborty, M.G.Mynk, D.Bandyopadhyay, N.Boukharouba,
S.N.Choudry, B.P.Crider, P.E.Garrett, S.F.Hicks, A.Kumar, S.R.Lesher, C.J.McKay, M.T.McEllistrem,
S.Mukhopadhyay, J.N.Orce, M.Scheck, J.R.Vanhoy, J.L.Wood, S.W.Yates
Phys.Rev. C 95, 034328 (2017)

49.Lifetime measurements in shape transition nucleus 188Pt

A.Rohilla, C.K.Gupta, R.P.Singh, S.Muralithar, S.Chakraborty, H.P.Sharma, A.Kumar, I.M.Govil,
D.C.Biswas, S.K.Chamoli
Eur.Phys.J. A 53, 64 (2017)

48. E0 transitions in 106Pd: Implications for shape coexistence

E.E.Peters, F.M.Prados-Estevez, A.Chakraborty, M.G.Mynk, D.Bandyopadhyay,
S.N.Choudry, B.P.Crider, P.E.Garrett, S.F.Hicks, A.Kumar, S.R.Lesher, C.J.McKay,
J.N.Orce, M.Scheck, J.R.Vanhoy, J.L.Wood, S.W.Yates
Eur.Phys.J. A 52, 96 (2016)

47. Measurement of Quasi-elastic Scattering: to Probe 28Si+154Sm Reaction

G.Kaur, B.R.Behera, A.Jhingan, B.K.Nayak, R.Dubey, P.Sharma, M.Thakur, R.Mahajan, N.Saneesh,
T.Banerjee, Khushboo, A.Kumar, S.Mandal, A.Saxena, P.Sugathan, N.Rowley
Acta Phys.Pol. B47, 847 (2016)

46. Effect of coupling in the 28Si + 154Sm reaction studied by quasi-elastic scattering
G.Kaur, B.R.Behera, A.Jhingan, B.K.Nayak, R.Dubey, P.Sharma, M.Thakur, R.Mahajan, N.Saneesh,
T.Banerjee, Khushboo, A.Kumar, S.Mandal, A.Saxena, P.Sugathan, N.Rowley
Phys.Rev. C 94, 034613 (2016)
45. Particle-hole configurations in reaction mechanisms for single-particle level densities for
target nuclei in (n, p) reactions at 14.8 MeV energy
H.S. Hans, A.Kumar, S. Verma, G Singh, B.R. Behera, K.P. Singh, S. Ghosh
Phys. Rev. C92, 034614(2015)

44. Probing nuclear dissipation via evaporation residue excitation functions for the 16,
18
O+198Pt reactions
Rohit Sandal, B. R. Behera, Varinderjit Singh, Maninder Kaur, A. Kumar, Gurpreet Kaur, P.
Sharma, N. Madhavan, S. Nath, J. Gehlot, A. Jhingan, K. S. Golda, Hardev Singh, S. Mandal, S.
Verma, E. Prasad, K. M. Varier, A. M. Vinodkumar, A. Saxena, Jhilam Sadhukhan, and Santanu
Pal
Phys. Rev. C91, 044621(2015)

43. Study of lifetimes of low-lying levels in 53Mn

K.P Singh, M. Oswal, B.R. Behera, A. Kumar, G. Singh
Eur.Phys.J. A 51, 54 (2015)

42. High spin structure in 130, 131Ba

N. Kaur, A. Kumar, G. Mukherjee,A. Singh, S. Kumar,R. Kaur, V. Singh, B.R. Behera, K.P.
Singh,G. Singh, H.P. Sharma, S. Kumar, M. Raju,P.V.M. Rao, S. Muralithar,R.P.
Singh,R.Kumar,N. Madhvan,R.K. Bhowmik
Eur. Phys. A 50, 5(2014)

41. Anomalous deviations from statistical evaporation spectra for the decay of the 73Br and
77
Rb compound systems
M. Kaur, B.R. Behera, G. Singh, V. Singh, R. Sandal, A. Kumar,H. Singh,G. Singh, K.P.
Singh, N. Madhvan, S.Nath, A.Jhingan,J.Gehlot, K.S. Golda,P. Sugathan,D. siwal,S. kalkal,
E.Prasad, S. Appannababu
Phys.Rev. C 89, 034621 (2014)

40. Measurement of evaporation residue excitation functions for the 19F + 194, 196, 198Pt
reactions
V. Singh, B. R. Behera, M. Kaur, A. Kumar, K.P. singh,n. Madhvan, S. Nath,J.Gehlot, G.
Mohanto,A. Jhingan, Ish Mukul,T. Varughese, J. Sahdukahn, S. Pal, S. Goyal,A. Saxena,
S.Santra, S. Kailas
Phys.Rev. C 89, 024609 (2014)

39. Neutron multiplicity measurements for 19F+194, 196, 198Pt systems to investigate the effect
of shell closure on nuclear dissipation
V. Singh, B. R. Behera, M. Kaur, A. Kumar, P. Sugathan, K.S. Golda,A. Jhingan, M. B.
Chatterjee,R.K. Bhowmik,D. Siwal, S. Goyal,J. Sadhukhan, S. Pal, A. Saxena,S. Santa, S. Kailas
Phys.Rev. C 87, 064601 (2013)

38. Effect of N/Z in pre-scission neutron multiplicity for 16, 18O + 194, 198Pt systems
Rohit Sandal,B. R. Behera, Varinderjit Singh, Maninder Kaur, A. Kumar, G. Singh, and K. P.
Singh, P. Sugathan, A. Jhingan, K. S. Golda, M. B. Chatterjee, and R. K. Bhowmik, Sunil
Kalkal,, D. Siwal, S. Goyal, and S. Mandal, E. Prasad, K. Mahata and A. Saxena, Jhilam
Sadhukhan, Santanu Pal
Phys. Rev. C 87, 014604 (2013)

37. Investigation of major and Trace elements in some medicinal Plants using PIXE
Rajbir Kaur, A. Kumar, Navneet Kaur, B. P. Mohanty, M. Oswal, K P Singh, B R Behera, Gulzar
Singh, Richa Puri, Shikha Sharma, Sanjiv Kumar, Pritty Rao, and S. Vikramkumar.
International Journal of PIXE 22, 113 (2012).

36 Trace elemental analysis of Aerosamples Using PIXE technique

Mumtaz Oswal, Rajbir Kaur, A. Kumar, K. P. Singh, Sunil Kumar, B. P. Mohanty
International Journal of PIXE Vol. 22, No. C 03n04, pp 271-285 (2012)

35. Elemental Analysis of Ground Water Using PIXE and PIGE Techniques
Rajbir Kaur, A. Kumar, B. P. Mohanty, Mumtaz Oswal, Navneet Kaur,
K. P. Singh, B. R. Behera, Gulzar Singh, Sanjiv Kumar, Pritty Rao, S. Vikramkumar
International Journal of PIXE , Vol. 22, No. 03n04, pp 259-269 (2012)

34 New decay pattern of negative-parity states at N=90

A. Chakraborty, F. M. Prados-Est´evez,S. N. Choudry, B. P. Crider,P. E. Garrett, W. D. Kulp,
A. Kumar,M. T. McEllistrem, S. Mukhopadhyay, M. G. Mynk,J. N. Orce, E. E. Peters, J. L.
Wood,and S. W. Yates
Phys. Rev. C C 86, 064314 (2012)

33 Theoretical Interpretation of Systematics of Effective Single Particle Level Densities

from (n, p) Reactions at 14.8 MeV Energies
H. S. Hans, Gulzar Singh, A. Kumar, K. P. Singh, B. R. Behera and Sudip Ghosh
Phys. Rev C85, 054614(2012).

32 Search for an effect of shell closure on nuclear dissipation via a neutron multiplicity
measurements.
V. Singh, B.R. Behera, M. Kaur, P. Sughatan, K.S. Golda, A. Jhingan, J. Sadhukhan, D. Siwal, S.
Goyal, S. Santra, A. Kumar, R. K. Bhowmik, M.B. Chaterjee, A. Saxena. S. Pal & S. Kailash.
Phys. Rev. C 86, 014609 (2012)

31. Main Injector particle production experiment at Fermilab

Sonam Mahajan, A. Kumar, R. Raja
Parmana Journal of Physics, Volume 79, Issue 5, pp 1243-1246 (2012)

30.Study of the effect of shell closure on the nuclear dissipation

V. Singh, B.R. Behera, M. Kaur, D. Siwal, S. Goyal, P. Sugathan, K.S. Golda, A. Jhingan,
A. Kumar, A. Saxena, R.K. Bhowmik, S. Kailas
EPJ Web Conf.v.17 (2011)

29 Level Density Parameter: A Tool to Study the Particle Spectra

Ajay Kumar, A. Kumar, G. Singh, H. Singh, R.P. Singh, R. Kumar, K. S. Golda, I.M. Govil
AIP Conf.Proc. 1224 (2010)
28. Trace elements of soil samples from mining area
Mumtaz Oswal, Harneet Bedi, M. Hajivaliei, A. Kumar and K. P. Singh
Nuclear Instruments & Methods B268, 2138(2010).

27. Investigation of 152Sm by Complementary Reactions

P.E. Gerret, et al. AIP Conf.Proc. 1090 (2009)

26. Identification of Mixed-Symmetry States in an Odd-Mass Nearly Spherical Nucleus

J. Orce. et al.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 062504 (2006)

25. Octupole and hexadecapole bands in 152Sm

P. E. Gerrett et. al. J.Phys.(London) G31, S1855 (2005)

24. Heterogeneous vibrations in 112Sn

A.Kumar, J. N. Orce, S. R. Lesher, C.J. McKay, M. T. McEllistrem, S. W Yates
Phys.Rev. C 72, 034313 (2005)

23. Polarization measurement and γ-ray spectroscopy of 122Cs

R. Kumar. A. Kumar, S. K. Chamoli,K. Singh, M. Sharma, D. Mehta, N. Singh,S.S. Ghugre, N.S.
Pattabhiraman, L. Chaturvedi, P.K. Joshi, H.C. Jain,Z. Naik, C. R. Praharaj, I.M. Govil.
Phys.Rev. C 72, 044319 (2005)

22. Lifetime measurements and low-lying structure in 112Sn

A. Kumar, J. N. Orce, S. R. Lesher, C.J. McKay, M. T. McEllistrem, S. W Yates
Eur.Phys.J. A 25, Supplement 1, 443 (2005)

21. Shape coexistence and lifetime measurement in 187Tl nucleus

S. K. Chamoli, P. Joshi, A. Kumar, R. Kumar, R. P. Singh, S. Muralithar, R. K. Bhowmik and I. M.
Govil
Phys. Rev. C 71, 054324 (2005).

20. Anomalous behavior of the level density parameter in neutron and charges particle
evaporation.
Ajay Kumar, A. Kumar, G. Singh, Herdev Singh, R. P. Singh, Rakesh Kumar, K. S. Golda,
S. K. Datta and I. M. Govil:
Phys. Rev. C 70 044607 (2004).
80
19. Dynamical effects in the heavy-ion fusion reactions of the compound nucleus Sr* via
charged
particle evaporation
J. Kaur, Ajay Kumar, A. Kumar, G. Singh, S. K. Datta, and I. M. Govil.
Phys. Rev. C70 017601, (2004)

18. Deformation effects in 185Au

P. Joshi, A. Kumar, I. M. Govil, R. P. Singh, S. Muralihar,G.
Mukherjee, R. K. Bhowmik and U. Garg
Phys. Rev. C69 044304 (2004).

17. Deformation studies at high spin in γ-soft 179Re Nucleus

S. K. Chamoli, P. Joshi, A. Kumar, R. P. Singh, S. Muralithar, R. K. Bhowmik, Z. Naik, C. R.
Pragaraj and I. M. Govil:
Phys. Rev C69 034310 (2004).

16. Search for entrance channel effects in heavy ion induced fusion reactions via neutron
evaporation.
Ajay Kumar, A. Kumar, B. K. Yogi, Rakesh kumar, S. K. Datta, M. B. Mukherjee and I. M.
Govil:
Phys. Rev. C68 034603 (2003).

15. Test of deformation driving effects in 179Re

S. K. Chamoli, P. Joshi, A. Kumar, R.P.Singh, L. Chaturvedi& I. M. Govil
Nuclear Physics A722563c-567c (2003).

14. Recoil Distance lifetime measurements in 118Xe.

I. M. Govil, A. Kumar, H. Iyer, P. Joshi, S. K. Chamoli, Rakesh Kumar, R. P. Singh Phys.
Rev. C 66, 064318-1 (2002)

13. Configuration dependence of deformation in 183Au

P. Joshi, A. Kumar, G. Mukherjee, R. P. Singh, S. Muralithar, U. Garg, R. K. Bhowmik and I.
M. Govil
Phys. Rev. C. 66,044306-1 ,(2002)

12.Search for entrance channel effects in the heavy ion induced fusion reaction through the
compound system 79Rb
J. Kaur, I. M. Govil, G. Singh, Ajay Kumar, A. Kumar, B. R. Behera and S. K. Datta
Phys. Rev. C 66, 034601-1(2002).

11. Configuration dependent shapes in the 177Re.

S. K. Chamoli, P. Joshi, A. Kumar, R. P. Singh, S. Muralithar, R. K. Bhowmik, Z. Naik, C. R.
Praharaj and I. M. Govil:
Phys. Rev C 66, 024307-1 (2002).

10.Inelastic scattering of 28.0 MeV proton on 56Fe

A. Kumar, D. K. Avasthi, A. Tripathi, S. K. Datta and I. M. Govil
Phys. Rev. C. 65 014305-1(2002).

9. The deformation driving property of the h9/2 configuration in 173Ta:

P. Joshi, G. Mukharjee, A. Kumar,R. P. Singh, S. K. Chamoli, S. Muralithar, C. R. Praharaj, U.
Garg, R. K. Bhowmik and I. M. Govil
Phys. Rev. C 60 034311-1(2001)

8. Neutron pick-up strength from 56Fe(p,d)55Fe at 28.0 MeV

A. Kumar, D. K. Avashi , A. Tripathi , K. Datta and I. M. Govil.
Acta Physica Polonica B Vol. 32 (2001)

7. Search for entrance channel effects in the decay of compound nucleus

I. M. Govil , R. Singh, A. Kumar, S. K. Datta, and S. K. Kataria
Nuclear Phys. A674 377(2000).

6. K- and L- X ray production cross-section and intensity ratios of rare earth Elements for
proton impact in the energy range 20-25 MeV
M. Hajiveliei, S. puri, M.L. Garg,D. Mehta, A. Kumar, S. K. Chamoli, D.K. Avasthi, A. Mandal,
T.K. Nandi, K.P. Singh, N. Singh, I.M. Govil
NIM B 160, 203 (2000).

5. Dynamical effects in the decay of the compound nucleus:

I. M. Govil, R. Singh, A. Kumar, Ajay Kumar, G. Singh, S. K. Kataria and S. K. Datta
Phys. Rev. C62,064606,(2000).

4. Deformation driving property of h9/2 in 171Ta

P. Joshi, G. Mukharjee, A. Kumar, R. P. Singh, S. Muralithar, S. C. Pancholi, C. R. Praharaj, U.
Garg, R. K. Bhowmik, and I. M. Govil
Phys. Rev. C. 60 034311-1(1999).

3. Recoil distance lifetime measurements in 122,124Xe

I. M. Govil,A. Kumar, H. Iyer, H. Li, U. Garg, S. S. Ghugre,T. Johnson, R. Kaczarowski, B.
kharraja, S. Naguleswaran and J. C Walpe:
Phys. Rev. C 57, no.1 632(1998).

2. Alpha particle emission as a probe of dynamical deformation.

I.M. Govil, R.Singh,A. Kumar, J.Kaur, A.K. Sinha, N. Madhvan,D.O. Kataria , P. Sugathan, S.K.
Kataria, Bency John and G.V. Ravi Prasad:
Phys. Rev. C 57 1269 (1998).
1. Angular momentum induced deformation of 55Co at 84 MeV excitation.
D. K. Agnihotri, A.Kumar, K.C.Jain, G. Singh, D. Kabiraj, D. K. Avasthi, and I. M. Govil:
Phys. Lett. B307, 283 (1993).