A Dehradun native has done three joint research papers with Prof Shuji Nakamura, one of the three scientists from Japan and US awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize for physics for the invention of blue light emitting diodes (lEDs). Dehradun native and IITian, Pranob Misra has done three joint research papers with Prof Nakamura on lED lights.
After completing schooling from Cambrian Hall, Misra went to IIT Kanpur for his undergraduate studies and then to Germany for his PhD. He got a chance in Germany to work on blue lED. Though a blue lED was demonstrated in 1999, there were certain physics problems yet to be resolved when Misra began his doctoral thesis in 2002. While working in Germany, he collaborated with Prof Nakamura who has since moved from Nichia Corporation in Japan to University of California in Santa Barbara. Together they were studying how to improve the efficiency of blue lEDs. This particular collaboration proved to be fruitful with Nakamura and Misra publishing three papers together.
After his PhD Misra moved to US and worked on the problem of solar cell efficiency. He joined Solar Junction as a scientist and helped the company break the world record in solar cell efficiency in 2010 when the solar cell was demonstrated to be more than 43 per cent efficient in energy conversion. Subsequently the company broke its own record and demonstrated a 44 per cent efficient solar cell.
Misra is now working on the production of laser diodes for various applications in the US. Misra's parents Nagendra Dutt Misra and Sushila Misra expressed happiness over Prof Nakamura getting the Nobel Prize and also expressed pride at their son's association with the Nobel laureate.