Notes by Akshat Jiwan Sharma

I thank the Australian Academy of Science for inviting me to the Science at the Shine Dome 2025, a 4 day event celebrating the shining stars of Australian Science. 26 new fellows were elected to the academy in 2025 during the event and I offer heartiest congratulations to all of them. In the last few decades the Australian scientific community has carved out a niche for itself on the world stage and created an ecosystem that now attracts some of the best talent in the world. Nevertheless the academy, on the 4th day of the event,released a report evaluating AU's preparedness to meet scientific and technological challenges of the future. Materials science was identified as one of the key areas where shortages need to be addressed. In the short-term AU govt can meet the demand by allowing easier immigration especially as many talented scientists are facing challenges in immigrating to the USA. But in the long term AU will have to cultivate its own talent. Minerals play a big role in A...

 3 Sep 2025 Powergen 2025 Enabling the Energy Future — The Hidden Role of Advanced Materials Powergen 2025 brought together leading names in the industry —Rolls Royce, GE, Suzlon ,Imco alloys,Magaldi,Polycab,Hydrogen Association of India among others to strategize on how best to meet the power requirements of the future. Energy is the most important sector one on which all other industries are dependent upon directly. The panelists discussed challenges associated with Distribution and transmission of energy and dependence on copper. Creation of composites for wind turbines, especially the high cost of carbon fiber, was flagged as a concern. Hydrogen storage and limited lifetime of electrodes necessitating stack replacement was also discussed. These are challenging problems that have no straightforward answers. While for AC electrical transmission the dependence on metals would continue. But for HV low current transmission carbon based conductors could prove very useful. Wind turbin...

Absolutely electrifying experience at the Semicon India 2025. I got a chance to interact with representatives from Imec,Tokyo electron, SMC,LAM research,STI,Canon,AMD,Micron,Canon, ASML,Zeiss and learn about their expansion plans in India.  I was really excited to learn about companies manufacturing SIC crystals to meet the demands of the power sector. Manufacturers were highly optimistic about its chances claiming that it outperforms GaN in both cost and efficiency. Another surprise was learning about glass surface patterning through electrochemical discharge. It was especially encouraging to see enthusiastic participation from students eager to learn about the semiconductor industry and drive the transformation in the coming decades. Among the thought leaders AI unsurprisingly remained a topic of much discussion — though concerns were raised around its sustainability & the need to decarbonise the manufacturing process. The conference provided a much needed thrust to India's a...

Air plasma driven high temperature blackbody light emitter for lighting and display applications  ABSTRACT  Plasma based light sources are usually based on noble gasses relying on emission from atomic lines to display colors. Whereas blackbody based emitters rely on the temperature of the emitter for the color and intensity of light. Neither BB nor plasma emitters by themselves are capable of producing light efficiently, BB emitters being especially notorious for their low efficiency. Yet the simplicity in manufacturing of plasma & BB light sources presents a compelling argument in their favor if their efficiency could be increased. In this paper we explore why these emitters suffer from poor efficiency and present a novel light emitter that combines the properties of plasmas and blackbodies to create a light source emitting at 5800K — the temperature of the surface of the sun offering both high luminous efficacy and wall plug efficiencies greater than 40% — exceeding the ...

A question asked on reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1n02vlg/ Yes and this has been experimentally confirmed. Shock compression of water has produced different forms of ice crystals.  SOME REFERENCES Experimental evidence for superionic water ice using shock compression https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-017-0017-4 This particular form of ice melted at 5000K at 200Gpa.  https://www.llnl.gov/article/44081/first-experimental-evidence-superionic-ice An interesting tidbit from the research is in this paragraph  >Using diamond anvil cells (DAC), the team applied 2.5 GPa of pressure (25 thousand atmospheres) to pre-compress water into the room-temperature ice VII, a cubic crystalline form that is different from "ice-cube" hexagonal ice, in addition to being 60 percent denser than water at ambient pressure and temperature.  I'm not really sure at what temp this compression was performed but ice vii is known to exist at room temp at high enough pre...

22 Aug 2025 It was an honor to participate in the 28th foundation day of the center for civil society. As one of the leading think tanks it has helped shape policy through its research and engagement with experts and policy makers. The panelists presented their views on the topic of 'Decriminalization for development' where they argued that too stringent compliance policy may be hurting the entrepreneurial spirit and that the goal of ease of doing business can't be realised until risk taking is encouraged. Special mention was made of insolvency laws where founders often lose control of their organisation in contrast to the laws of other countries where focus is on business recovery rather than handing over the power to the creditors. It was argued that compliance is easy for big businesses but smaller orgs may need a more supportive ecosystem that nurtures their growth. I was in general agreement. It is important to build trust, focus on partnerships and continue to develop...