The Mid-Infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) provides high-contrast imaging and spectroscopy in the mid-infrared wavelength range and is a first-generation instrument for the 39-meter Extremely Large Telescope. The Warm Calibration Unit (WCU), a subsystem of METIS, offers a well-controlled reference signal that enables the monitoring, troubleshooting, and calibration of METIS. Following the Final Design Review (FDR), I am co-leading the Manufacturing, Assembly, Integration, and Testing (MAIT) phase of WCU. I am focusing on the optical, mechanical, and thermal design optimization during the MAIT phase, as well as on procurement, lab prototyping, and assembly of the WCU.

In this short time, I continued my Ph.D. project on ProtoPol development, a prototype spectro-polarimeter (~R7000) for PRL telescopes designed with commercial "off-the-shelf" optical components.

Ph.D. Thesis Title: "Aspects of Spectroscopic and Polarimetric Instrumentation for Ground Based Optical Telescopes with related Observations". I have been working on topics related to the design, instrumentation, calibration, data analysis, and observational aspects of optical spectroscopy and spectro-polarimetry for PRL telescopes. My thesis projects include:1) Assembly-Integration-Testing (AIT) of an in-house developed instrument named Mount-Abu Faint Object Spectrograph & Camera - Pathfinder (MFOSC-P) for PRL 1.2m telescope for seeing limited imaging as well as low-resolution spectroscopy (R~500,1000,2000).2) Laboratory and on-sky characterization of MFOSC-P and development of its data reduction pipeline (developed in Python).3) Performance & science verification of MFOSC-P using several astrophysical objects like M dwarfs, symbiotic stars, novae, etc.4) Optical design, analysis & science simulations of next-generation spectro-polarimeter for the upcoming PRL 2.5m telescope. The MFOSC-Echelle Polarimeter instrument would provide imaging, low-resolution spectroscopy (~R500) & intermediate-resolution spectro-polarimetry (~R15000) on the Cassegrain port of the 2.5m telescope.5) Optical & optomechanical design of ProtoPol - a prototype spectro-polarimeter (~R7000) for PRL telescopes designed with commercial "off-the-shelf" optical components.