The Department of Physics was established in 1964 with spectroscopy and electronics specializations for M.Sc. (Physics) course and with an intake capacity of only 10 students. The number of specializations grew subsequently to the present six and the student intake to 70. The department has always placed equal emphasis both on teaching and research. The number of Ph.D. students produced in the department is approaching 300.

The total research grant received by the department from various funding agencies is over Rs. 7 crores and the number of research publications in renowned journals is about to touch the 1500 mark. It is noteworthy that university wise this department ranks 6th in Materials science research in India during the years 1996-2006. The department has started M. Tech. in Energy Technology since 2005 to enable integration of science and technology.

The major research areas of the department are aerogels, fuel cells, supercapacitors, electrochromic materials, water purification, nanomaterials, thick and thin film devices, space sciences, Earth sciences, ferrites and ME composites, holographic interferometry, etc. The major facilities for advanced studies available in the department are housed under Physics Instrumentation facility centre which include XRD, Atomic Force Microscope, SEM, Solar Simulator, Electrochemical workstation, Spectroflurometer, LCR bridge, Contact angle meter, Surface profiler, EQCM, Electrochemical work station with IMPS and IMVS, Spectroelectrochemical set up and Thermal conductivity meter. Many instruments such as helium cryostat, high pressure autoclaves, PID controllers, versastat-II, Keithley electrometer, X and KU band microwave setup, riometer, lasers, holographic interferometer, spectrophotometers, BET analyzer, Gas sensor unit, vacuum coating unit, etc have been purchased through individual research project supports. All the cabins/rooms and laboratories in the department are equipped with computer and internet facilities. The department has its own book-bank with a collection of more than 600 text/reference books.

The Vision of the Department is to develop it as a Centre of Excellence in Materials Science and Technology, Department is now successfully running following three programmes. 1. UGC-DSA Phase-I, 2 DST-FIST Phase II and 3 DST- PURSE. It is planned to start the courses in the emerging areas like Nanotechnology, Mathematical Modelling Computational Physics and Computer Simulation. Industry-Departmental joint research projects will be undertaken. The department will take up joint research projects in the field of Nanomaterials and solar energy materials. It is creditable to the department that the students of this department carry the beacon of light from here to other departments and research institutions in India and abroad. The history of the department dictates that it has ever remained flourishing and will remain so in future.