# Thirumalai Venkatesan
**Thirumalai Venky Venkatesan** is a physicist best known as a pioneer of pulsed laser deposition (PLD), whose 1987 demonstration of stoichiometric high-temperature-superconductor film growth helped establish a technique whose use for depositing films via ablation has been known since the 1960s and that transformed research on complex oxides worldwide.[11](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3727/47/3/030301) • [1](https://royalsociety.org/people/thirumalai-venkatesan-35037/) He became Professor of Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the Center for Quantum Research and Technology at the [University of Oklahoma](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-oklahoma) in 2021.[1](https://royalsociety.org/people/thirumalai-venkatesan-35037/) • [2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9683-4584) He was elected a [Fellow of the Royal Society](https://www.edgepedia.org/fellow-of-the-royal-society) in 2021 and received the George E. Pake Prize of the [American Physical Society](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-physical-society) in 2012.[3](https://www.nist.gov/awards/thirumalai-venkatesan-named-2021-fellow-royal-society) • [4](https://www.nist.gov/people/thirumalai-venkatesan)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Known for | Inventing pulsed laser deposition and applying it to complex-oxide thin films and heterostructures[1](https://royalsociety.org/people/thirumalai-venkatesan-35037/) |
| Current position | Director and Professor, Center for Quantum Research and Technology, University of Oklahoma, from 2021[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9683-4584) |
| Education | BSc (Hons.) Physics, IIT Kharagpur, 1969; MSc Physics, IIT Kanpur, 1971; PhD in quantum electronics, Bell Laboratories, and the City University of New York, 1977[5](https://iitk.ac.in/dora/profile/prof-thirumalai-venkatesan) |
| Career | Bell Labs/Bellcore 1973–1990; Rutgers Surface Modification Center 1985–1990; University of Maryland 1990–2007; NUS NanoCore Institute 2008–2019[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9683-4584) |
| Signature work | First Y-Ba-Cu-O superconductor thin films by pulsed excimer laser evaporation, Applied Physics Letters, 1987[6](https://doi.org/10.1063/1.98366) |
| Companies | Founder of Neocera (PLD systems) and Neocera Magma (magnetic microscopy); co-founder of Blue Wave Semiconductors; helped launch Breathonix, Cellivate, and Azometrix[7](http://www.ou.edu/cas/physics-astronomy/people/directory/faculty/thirumalai-venkatesan.html) |
| Honors | Fellow of the Royal Society (2021), National Academy of Inventors (2021), APS and MRS; George E. Pake Prize (2012); APS Distinguished Lectureship on the Applications of Physics (2020)[7](http://www.ou.edu/cas/physics-astronomy/people/directory/faculty/thirumalai-venkatesan.html) |
## Education and early career
Venkatesan earned a BSc (Hons.) in Physics from [IIT Kharagpur](https://www.edgepedia.org/iit-kharagpur) in 1969 and an MSc in Physics from [IIT Kanpur](https://www.edgepedia.org/iit-kanpur) in 1971, then a PhD in quantum electronics from Bell Laboratories and the [City University of New York](https://www.edgepedia.org/city-university-of-new-york) in 1977.[5](https://iitk.ac.in/dora/profile/prof-thirumalai-venkatesan) • [8](http://www.ou.edu/insideou/articles/2021/february/ou-names-inaugural-director-of-its-center-for-quantum-research-and-technology.html) He joined Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, in 1973 as a scientist and remained there in research and management roles until 1990.[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9683-4584) From 1984 to 1986 he moved to Bellcore as manager of a surface group and negotiated an arrangement with Rutgers University to locate his division there, becoming Joint Director and Professor of Rutgers's Surface Modification Center from 1985 to 1990 while still a Bellcore manager.[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9683-4584) • [9](https://aml.iaamonline.org/article_15143_c63ae1de85814ddb3cece1f18e6c7351.pdf)
## Pulsed laser deposition
In 1987, working at Bellcore and Rutgers, Venkatesan reported the first successful preparation of Y-Ba-Cu-O superconductor thin films by pulsed excimer laser evaporation of a single bulk target in vacuum, according to the account in *Applied Physics Letters* published on 24 August 1987.[6](https://doi.org/10.1063/1.98366) The technique's value lay in stoichiometric composition transfer: Rutherford backscattering showed the films' composition stayed close to that of the bulk target, so a multicomponent material could be turned into a thin film without the precise flux control that other deposition methods require. According to their paper in *Applied Physics Letters*, growth rates were on the order of 0.1 nm per laser shot, and after annealing in oxygen the films showed superconductivity with onset at about 95 K and zero resistance at roughly 85 K on SrTiO3 and 75 K on Al2O3, without ultrahigh vacuum equipment.[6](https://doi.org/10.1063/1.98366) Follow-up work on the ablation process itself found that emitted species such as BaO carry energies of several electronvolts, corresponding to effective temperatures of about 15,000 K for the emitted plume.[10](https://doi.org/10.1063/1.100458)
The timing mattered. The newly discovered high-temperature superconductor YBa2Cu3O7−δ was a three-element oxide that resisted conventional film growth; a review marking 25 years of PLD records that Venkatesan's demonstration that it could be deposited stoichiometrically as a high-quality nanometer-thin film ended two decades in which laser ablation deposition had attracted few publications, after which PLD papers increased exponentially worldwide.[11](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3727/47/3/030301) In his own account of the technique's development, he describes high-Tc superconducting films as the main driver, and PLD as now the method of choice for rapid prototyping of multicomponent inorganic materials and a standard tool for advancing oxide electronics.[12](https://google.iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3727/47/3/034001) He applied the technique beyond cuprates to magneto-resistive manganites, ferroelectrics, dilute magnetic oxides, oxide photocatalysts, bioactive substrates, and multiferroic heterostructures integrable with silicon electronics.[1](https://royalsociety.org/people/thirumalai-venkatesan-35037/)
## Representative work
His signature paper is the 1987 [Applied Physics Letters](https://www.edgepedia.org/applied-physics-letters) report of the first Y-Ba-Cu-O superconductor thin films grown by pulsed excimer laser evaporation of a single bulk target in vacuum, the demonstration on which the PLD field was built.[6](https://doi.org/10.1063/1.98366)
Between 1987 and 1990 his Rutgers-Bellcore group used the process to produce high-quality YBCO films, vertical Josephson junctions, high-Q microwave resonators flown on a Navy satellite, and high-efficiency bolometers launched as infrared detectors on NASA's Cassini mission.[9](https://aml.iaamonline.org/article_15143_c63ae1de85814ddb3cece1f18e6c7351.pdf) Measurements carried out at UC Berkeley on his team's films found the lowest magnetic flux noise among state-of-the-art films of the day, supporting the quality of the PLD-grown material for superconducting quantum interference devices.[9](https://aml.iaamonline.org/article_15143_c63ae1de85814ddb3cece1f18e6c7351.pdf)
## Career record
Venkatesan was Research Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland from 1990 to 2007, where he led the oxide electronics effort and the Center for Superconductivity Research.[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9683-4584) • [13](https://www.cares.cam.ac.uk/personal-profiles/?%3Foffset=1&category=Alumni&profile_id=196) He was Director of the NanoCore Institute at the [National University of Singapore](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-university-of-singapore) from 2008 to 2019, where the Royal Society credits him with catalyzing the development of nanoscience in Singapore, and he served there as a Provost Chair Professor of electrical and computer engineering, physics, and materials science.[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9683-4584) • [1](https://royalsociety.org/people/thirumalai-venkatesan-35037/) • [8](http://www.ou.edu/insideou/articles/2021/february/ou-names-inaugural-director-of-its-center-for-quantum-research-and-technology.html)
At the University of Oklahoma he became director designate and then inaugural director of the Center for Quantum Research and Technology on July 1, 2021; the center, enabled by a gift from the Avenir Foundation, covers quantum materials, sensors, measurement science, quantum communications, and computing.[8](http://www.ou.edu/insideou/articles/2021/february/ou-names-inaugural-director-of-its-center-for-quantum-research-and-technology.html) He became the founding Director of OU's Center of Optimal Materials for Emerging Technologies (COMET), a scientific affiliate at NIST Gaithersburg, where NIST lists him as a Visiting Fellow in the Microsystems and Nanotechnology Division working on oxide heterostructures for plasmonic and metamaterial devices, and an Adjunct Professor at the National University of Singapore.[7](http://www.ou.edu/cas/physics-astronomy/people/directory/faculty/thirumalai-venkatesan.html) • [4](https://www.nist.gov/people/thirumalai-venkatesan) • [1](https://royalsociety.org/people/thirumalai-venkatesan-35037/)
## Entrepreneurship
Venkatesan founded Neocera to commercialize oxide-based technologies; his company page, Cambridge CARES, and a 2018 biographical article date the founding to 1989,[13](https://www.cares.cam.ac.uk/personal-profiles/?%3Foffset=1&category=Alumni&profile_id=196) • [14](https://neocera.com/about-neocera/management-team/) • [9](https://aml.iaamonline.org/article_15143_c63ae1de85814ddb3cece1f18e6c7351.pdf) while his ORCID record dates his founder role to May 1987, and the two records have not been reconciled.[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9683-4584) Neocera's first product was pulsed laser deposition systems; over two decades it received about 65 government contracts totaling over $22 million, and it sells PLD systems in more than 36 countries.[9](https://aml.iaamonline.org/article_15143_c63ae1de85814ddb3cece1f18e6c7351.pdf) He later licensed magnetic imaging technology from the University of Maryland and commercialized the HTS SQUID-based magnetic microscope MAGMA for semiconductor failure analysis.[14](https://neocera.com/about-neocera/management-team/) • [13](https://www.cares.cam.ac.uk/personal-profiles/?%3Foffset=1&category=Alumni&profile_id=196) He became CEO of Neocera Magma in Beltsville, Maryland, in July 2020, and is co-founder of Blue Wave Semiconductors; he also helped launch the Singapore healthcare companies Breathonix, Cellivate, and Azometrix.[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9683-4584) • [7](http://www.ou.edu/cas/physics-astronomy/people/directory/faculty/thirumalai-venkatesan.html) • [1](https://royalsociety.org/people/thirumalai-venkatesan-35037/)
## Honors
According to a NIST announcement of May 6, 2021, Venkatesan had been named a 2021 Fellow of the Royal Society, and he was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors the same year.[3](https://www.nist.gov/awards/thirumalai-venkatesan-named-2021-fellow-royal-society) • [5](https://iitk.ac.in/dora/profile/prof-thirumalai-venkatesan) The American Physical Society awarded him the George E. Pake Prize in 2012 and the Distinguished Lectureship on the Applications of Physics in 2020; he is also a Fellow of the APS and the [Materials Research Society](https://www.edgepedia.org/materials-research-society), and a winner of the Bellcore Award of Excellence.[4](https://www.nist.gov/people/thirumalai-venkatesan) • [7](http://www.ou.edu/cas/physics-astronomy/people/directory/faculty/thirumalai-venkatesan.html) His alma mater institutes recognized him with outstanding alumnus awards from IIT Kanpur in 2015 and IIT Kharagpur in 2016.[7](http://www.ou.edu/cas/physics-astronomy/people/directory/faculty/thirumalai-venkatesan.html)
## Recent work
His stated research interests at Oklahoma are memristors and neuromorphic circuits, metasurfaces, plasmonics, quantum qubits, and sensors, breath-profile disease diagnosis, and in-operando catalysis.[7](http://www.ou.edu/cas/physics-astronomy/people/directory/faculty/thirumalai-venkatesan.html) In June 2026 he published the review "Quantum sensing: From fundamental limits to emerging technologies" in Applied Physics Reviews, affiliated with the University of Oklahoma and NIST.[15](https://inspirehep.net/authors/3176053) PLD has become the method of choice for rapid prototyping of multicomponent inorganic materials.[12](https://google.iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3727/47/3/034001)
## References
1. Professor Venky Venkatesan FRS | Royal Society Fellow. https://royalsociety.org/people/thirumalai-venkatesan-35037/
2. Thirumalai Venkatesan (0000-0001-9683-4584) - ORCID. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9683-4584
3. Thirumalai Venkatesan Named 2021 Fellow of the Royal Society | NIST. https://www.nist.gov/awards/thirumalai-venkatesan-named-2021-fellow-royal-society
4. Thirumalai Venkatesan | NIST. https://www.nist.gov/people/thirumalai-venkatesan
5. Prof Thirumalai Venkatesan | IIT Kanpur. https://iitk.ac.in/dora/profile/prof-thirumalai-venkatesan
6. Preparation of Y-Ba-Cu oxide superconductor thin films using pulsed laser evaporation from high Tc bulk material, Appl. Phys. Lett. (1987). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.98366
7. Thirumalai Venkatesan - University of Oklahoma Physics & Astronomy faculty directory. http://www.ou.edu/cas/physics-astronomy/people/directory/faculty/thirumalai-venkatesan.html
8. OU Names Inaugural Director of Its Center for Quantum Research and Technology. http://www.ou.edu/insideou/articles/2021/february/ou-names-inaugural-director-of-its-center-for-quantum-research-and-technology.html
9. Scientific and Entrepreneurial resume of T. Venkatesan (Researcher of the Year 2018), Advanced Materials Letters. https://aml.iaamonline.org/article_15143_c63ae1de85814ddb3cece1f18e6c7351.pdf
10. Nature of the pulsed laser process for the deposition of high Tc superconducting thin films, Appl. Phys. Lett. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.100458
11. 25 years of pulsed laser deposition, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 47, 030301 (2014). https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3727/47/3/030301
12. Pulsed laser deposition, invention or discovery? J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 47, 034001 (2014). https://google.iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3727/47/3/034001
13. Personal Profiles | Cambridge CARES. https://www.cares.cam.ac.uk/personal-profiles/?%3Foffset=1&category=Alumni&profile_id=196
14. Management Team with extensive experience - Neocera. https://neocera.com/about-neocera/management-team/
15. Thirumalai Venky Venkatesan - INSPIRE. https://inspirehep.net/authors/3176053
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Physical and mathematical scientists › Physicists and astronomers › Researchers in condensed matter physics and quantum materials › Quantum transport and mesoscopic physics*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026; Sep 30, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 30, 2026*
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