Optical Systems Research Scientist

Turning coherent light into measurement.

Nine years designing interferometers, light-sheet microscopes, Raman platforms, and OCT systems — from physical modelling through fabrication, validation, and publication. Currently building biomedical optics and OCT research at EGIMT, Visakhapatnam, India.

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Portrait of Dr. Ramachandran Kasu
Assistant Professor
EGIMT · Visakhapatnam, India
9Years in optical R&D
5Countries · India, US, South Korea
25Publications & conference papers
$700K+Competitive research funding
About

An instrument-builder's approach to optics

Ramachandran works across atomic, molecular, and optical physics to design and build imaging, sensing, and spectroscopy platforms — with a core strength in fiber-optic interferometry, Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy, and photon-efficient detection for low-light, photon-limited measurement.

His work runs end to end: physical modelling and optical design, through experimental implementation, validation, and data analysis. That range has carried him through federally and internationally funded programs across five countries, with a consistent record of peer-reviewed publication and patented technology.

"Motivated to advance practical optical instrumentation for biological imaging, precision sensing, atmospheric measurement, and space science through collaborative, experiment-driven research."

Research Focus

Six threads, one optical bench

Each area below has produced working hardware, not just simulation — instruments built, calibrated, and run in the lab.

01 / IMAGING

Biomedical Optics & OCT

Optical coherence tomography concepts, proof-of-concept systems, and IP development for real-time biomedical imaging.

02 / MICROSCOPY

Light-Sheet & Raman Imaging

Single-objective Airy light-sheet systems, video-rate Raman metabolic imaging, and photon-sparse fluorescence detection.

03 / SENSING

Fiber-Optic Interferometry

Concatenated Mach-Zehnder and Sagnac loop systems for EDFA gain flattening, current sensing, and spectral tailoring.

04 / METROLOGY

Acousto-Optic & Vibration Sensing

Multi-beam heterodyne laser Doppler vibrometry and line-scan CMOS interferometry for defense-grade measurement.

05 / SPECTROSCOPY

Terahertz & Spectroscopic Imaging

Off-axis THz digital holography and Raman/photoacoustic spectroscopy for materials and explosives characterization.

06 / COMPUTATION

Photonics Simulation & AI

Ansys Lumerical, Tidy3D, and Luceda IPKISS modelling paired with machine learning for biomedical image analysis.

Career Path

Five countries, one continuous line of instrumentation

Assistant Professor
EGIMT — Department of Medical Technology
06/2026 — Present

Developing OCT-based concepts and IP, teaching and mentoring in medical technology, and supervising student projects in machine learning, biomedical image analysis, and optical instrumentation.

Visakhapatnam, India
Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Physics, University of Idaho
02/2022 — 06/2025

Built Raman/fluorescence and Airy light-sheet imaging setups; explored non-diffracting beams for ultrafast light-sheet microscopy. Published in PNAS and ACS Photonics; filed one US patent.

Idaho, USA
Postdoctoral Research Associate
National Center for Physical Acoustics, University of Mississippi
08/2018 — 01/2022

Developed a heterodyne interferometer and line-scan CMOS multibeam setup for membrane vibration measurement. Published in Applied Optics and Optics Letters.

Mississippi, USA
Research Associate
Advanced Centre for Research in High Energy Materials, University of Hyderabad
08/2017 — 08/2018

Studied charge transfer via Raman and pulsed photoacoustic spectroscopy; constructed an off-axis THz digital holography system for explosives characterization.

Hyderabad, India
Assistant Professor
MGM College of Engineering and Technology
07/2015 — 07/2017

Taught Engineering Physics (PH100) to undergraduates; led student cultural and technical fest coordination. Included a nine-month research leave.

Kerala, India
Postdoctoral Researcher
Division of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Jeonbuk National University
07/2016 — 03/2017

Built a polarization-based Michelson interferometer and digital holography system; developed MATLAB phase-extraction code using 2D FFT for dynamic spectro-ellipsometry.

South Korea
Doctoral Researcher — Ph.D. in Physics (Fiber Optics)
IIITDM Kancheepuram
08/2010 — 05/2015

Dissertation: "Spectral Tailoring through Concatenated All-Fibre Interferometers for Communication and Sensing Applications." Designed a concatenated Mach-Zehnder / fiber loop mirror system for EDFA gain flattening.

Chennai, India
Funded Research

$700,000+ across five agencies

DOE — USA Advanced Microscopy Project — central role in imaging technology behind PNAS and ACS Photonics publications and a filed patent. $300,000+
ONR — USA Acousto-Optic Detection Systems — sensing technology for defense applications, transferred to contractors. $200,000+
DRDO — India Materials Characterization Project — terahertz imaging systems for explosive detection, adopted for operational use. $100,000+
NRF — Korea Precision Measurement Systems — industrial metrology research with commercial applications. $50,000+
DST — India Fiber Optic Sensors Project — doctoral research in fundamental fiber-optic sensing. $50,000+
Publications & Patents

1 patent · 12 peer-reviewed articles · 12 conference papers

ORCID: 0000-0002-6774-5184

Patent Pending
Ramachandran Kasu, H. Luo, D. Christodoulides, A. E. Vasdekis — Single Objective Airy Light-Sheet Imaging (SOALSI) and method for using, US Patent Pending No. 63/704,447, 2024.
2025
Ramachandran Kasu, Haokun Luo, Shirley Luckhart, Demetrios Christodoulides, A. E. Vasdekis — "Single-Objective Airy Light-Sheet Imaging"
ACS Photonics, 12(5), 2432–2439 · IF 6.5 (Q1) · DOI
2023
Lochlann Dunn, Haokun Luo, Nava R. Subedi, Ramachandran Kasu, et al. — "Video-Rate Raman-Based Metabolic Imaging by Airy Light-Sheet Illumination and Photon-Sparse Detection"
PNAS, 120(9), e2210037120 · IF 9.4 (Q1) · DOI
2023
V. Aranchuk, Ramachandran Kasu, Junrui Li, I. Aranchuk, C. Hickey — "Application of line-scan CMOS camera in multi-beam heterodyne differential laser Doppler vibration sensor"
Optics Letters, 48(10), 2724–2727 · IF 3.6 (Q2) · DOI
2022
V. Aranchuk, Ramachandran Kasu, Junrui Li, I. Aranchuk, C. Hickey — "Multi-beam heterodyne laser Doppler vibrometer based on a line-scan CMOS digital camera"
Applied Optics, 61(20), 5876–5883 · IF 1.7 (Q3/Q2) · DOI
2021
K. Ramachandran, Jitendra N. Acharyya, A. Kumari, A. K. Chaudhary — "Study of photo-induced charge transfer mechanism of PEDOT with nitro groups of RDX, HMX, and TNT explosives using Anti-Stokes and Stokes Raman lines ratios"
Spectrochimica Acta Part A, 251, 119360 · IF 4.3 (Q1) · DOI
2021
K. Ramachandran, Naveen Kumar — "Comparative spectral tuning and fluctuation analysis of all-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer and micro Mach-Zehnder interferometer"
Journal of Optics, 23(11), 115702 · IF 2.0 (Q2) · DOI
2017
K. Ramachandran, Daesuk Kim, Naveen Kumar — "Miniaturized MMZI concatenated FLM for gain equalization of ASE response of an EDFA"
Optical Fiber Technology, 36, 95–198 · IF 2.6 (Q2) · DOI
2016
G. Narendran, K. Ramachandran, Naveen Kumar — "An inline sensing of coolant temperature inside a microchannel for applications in ultra-dense packed high-power electronics"
Optik, 127(2), 871–875 · IF 3.1 (Q2) · DOI
2015
K. Ramachandran, Naveen Kumar, Venkataraman Sahoo — "A Highly Accurate All-Fiber MMZI Current Sensor"
IEEE Sensors Journal, 15, 1270–1274 · IF 4.3 (Q1/Q2) · DOI
2014
Naveen Kumar, K. Ramachandran — "Dynamic Spectral Maneuvering by Fiber Sagnac Loop Filter"
Optics and Laser Technology, 63, 144–147 · IF 4.6 (Q1/Q2) · DOI
2013
Naveen Kumar, K. Ramachandran — "Mach–Zehnder interferometer concatenated fiber loop mirror based gain equalization filter for an EDFA"
Optics Communications, 289, 92–96 · IF 2.2 (Q2) · DOI
2017
Thresiamma George, K. Ramachandran — "Third-Order Optical Nonlinearity of Au-Ag core-shell Nanoparticle at 532 nm"
International Journal of Science and Research, 6(4), 245–251 · PDF
2024
Haokun Luo, Ramachandran Kasu, Demetrios N. Christodoulides, Andreas E. Vasdekis — "Metabolic Imaging at Video Rates Using Raman with Airy Light-Sheet Illumination and Sparse Photon Detection"
Genomic Science Program — Enabling Capabilities and Resources PI Meeting Proceedings, p. 76
2024
L. Dunn, H. Luo, N. R. Subedi, Ramachandran Kasu, et al. — "Video-rate Spontaneous Raman Imaging" (Invited)
SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, USA · DOI
2017
Vamara Dembele, K. Ramachandran, Inho Choi, et al. — "Dynamic Spectro-ellipsometry Based on a Spectral Interferometric Phase Extraction Method"
Digital Holography and 3D Imaging 2017, Jeju Island, South Korea · DOI
2023
Ramachandran K, Andreas E. Vasdekis — "Light Sheet Microscopy in Idaho"
Institute for Health in the Human Ecosystem Annual Research Symposium, Moscow, Idaho, USA
2017
A. Kumari, Ganesh Damarla, K. Ramachandran, Anil K. Chaudhary — "A Time-Domain Terahertz Spectroscopy of Cefixime Antibiotic Drug Obtained from Different Sources"
DAE-BRNS Theme Meeting on Ultrafast Science 2017, University of Hyderabad, India
2016
Daesuk Kim, Vamara Dembele, Inho Choi, Ramachandran Kasu — "Dynamic Spectroscopic Ellipsometry: Theory and Applications" (Invited)
International Symposium on Optomechatronic Technology 2016, Tokyo, Japan
2012–2014
Naveen Kumar, K. Ramachandran, et al. — Additional conference papers on EDFA gain flattening, tapered-fiber current sensing, and gain equalization
WRAP 2013 (IIT Delhi) · PHOTONICS 2012 (IIT Madras) · ICOL 2014 (IRDE Dehradun) · 24th Korean Conference on Semiconductors (2017)
Recognition & Service

Awards, memberships & editorial service

Awards & Honors

  • 2025Early Career Physicist — Institute of Physics, UK
  • 2022Outstanding Reviewer Award — Institute of Physics, UK
  • —Trusted Reviewer Status — Institute of Physics, UK
  • —Ph.D. Fellowship (HTRA Scheme) — Government of India

Memberships & Development

Optica (OSA) SPIE IOP, UK AAAS
  • Responsible Conduct of Research — CITI Program
  • Peer Review Excellence Training — Institute of Physics
  • Faculty Development Program — ACUE
  • Quantum Optics Certification — École Polytechnique
Teaching & Mentoring

Classroom to research bench

Teaching

Engineering Physics (PH100) to 250+ undergraduates across disciplines, plus guest electromagnetism lectures to a 100-level class of 80 students. Consistently rated 95% satisfaction in student evaluations, with a focus on connecting theory to engineering practice.

Mentoring

  • Mentored US high school students for the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, 2022–2025.
  • "Pathonix" (ovarian cancer detection) — 1st place, NABT Professional Development Conference, 2024.
  • "3D Bioprinting for Cartilage Repair" student — admitted to Stanford Clinical Science Program, 2025.
  • Panel member, "Postdoc experiences and guidance for graduate students," University of Mississippi.