Ultrafast Spectroscopy · Condensed matter Physics
Prabesh
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Prabesh
Bista
I'm
Building next-generation light sources to capture how matter moves, one femtosecond at a time.
Few-cycle pulse · E-fieldτ ≈ 10⁻¹⁵ s
−30 fs−20−100102030 fs
About me
About Me
My Story
From Kathmandu to the lab bench. I grew up in Kathmandu, Nepal, and completed my undergraduate degree in Physics at Tribhuvan University. That path led me to Taiwan, where an internship turned into a year as a Research Assistant — and later a master's thesis — in Dr. Cheng-Tien Chiang's lab at Academia Sinica. There, I built a non-collinear optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) from scratch, engineering it into a working light source for photoelectron spectroscopy.
Now, at Stony Brook. I'm currently a PhD student in Prof. Thomas Allison's lab, where I design and build ultrafast experiments and turn the data they produce into physical insight.
Outside the lab, I read non-fiction and the news, hike, play football, cycle, travel, and cook.
I build optical tools that let us observe how electrons move, designing light sources and experiments to study ultrafast dynamics on femtosecond timescales.
Prabesh Bista
- From Nepal
- prabesh.bista@stonybrook.edu
Education
Graduate Student, Physics
2026 – presentStony Brook University, New York, USA
Master of Science, Physics
2021 – 2024National Central University, Zhongli, Taiwan
Thesis: Non-collinear optical parametric amplification as a light source for photoemission spectroscopy.
Advisor: Dr. Cheng-Tien Chiang
Bachelor of Science, Physics
2015 – 2019Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus, Kathmandu, Nepal
Research Experience
Research Internship
October 2025 – May 2026Sunko Group, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg, Austria
- Building an optical setup for time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements.
Baykusheva Group, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg, Austria
- Built a non-degenerate parametric down-conversion setup using a nonlinear crystal.
- Developed LabVIEW program for Ophir powermeter.
- Measured beam pointing stability.
Master Project
2021 – 2024Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei
- Constructed a non-collinear optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) from scratch, achieving ~30% conversion efficiency in second-harmonic generation.
Research Assistant
2020 – 2021Chiang group, Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei
- Generated second- and third-harmonic signals in nonlinear optical experiments.
- Developed a LabVIEW program for a Thorlabs PM100D power meter.
- Procured laboratory components and assisted in lab setup.
Research Internship
March – July 2020Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei
- Used Kelvin probe spectroscopy and ambient-pressure photoemission spectroscopy to determine the valence band of 2D materials.
Peer-reviewed
Publications
2026
Valence Band Momentum Imaging of NiTe2 by Two-Photon Photoemission Momentum Microscopy
Mukesh Singh, Prabesh Bista, Yu-Chan Lin, Chia-Nung Kuo, Yu-Jhen Chuang, Maximilian Paleschke, Chen-Bin Huang, Ming-Chiang Chung, Chin-Shan Lue, and Cheng-Tien Chiang
Appl. Phys. Lett., 128, 031601, 2026
doi.org/10.1063/5.03007752022
Teng-I Yang, Yu-Wen Huang, Prabesh Bista, Chien-Fang Ding, Jeson Chen, Cheng-Tien Chiang, and Huan-Cheng Chang
J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 13, 11280–11287, 2022
doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c03064
Field notes
Gallery
A few photos from conferences, workshops, and summer schools along the way.
IAMS, Academia Sinica
Presenting a poster during the IAMS Young Fellow Research Presentation at IAMS, Academia Sinica, Taipei, in 2022.
IoP, Academia Sinica
Attending the International Workshop on Transport and Optics in Topological Systems at the Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, in 2024.
Roscoff, France
Participating in the Advanced Physics of Van der Waals Heterostructures summer school in France, 2023.
New Hampshire, USA
A group photo taken during the Ultrafast Surface Dynamics conference in 2026.
Writing
Blog
Coming soon.
Get in touch
Contact
Working on ultrafast spectroscopy, photoemission instrumentation, or anything at the intersection of light and matter? I'd love to hear from you.
Location
John S. Toll Drive, Stony Brook, NY 11794