Dr R. K Kotnala had established Magnetic Primary Standard Lab for the first time in India, in 1998 at International Level. A laboratory was established for primary standards for 10 magnetic measurement parameters in the preview of ISO:17025 for International Bureau of Weights & Measure, (BIPM) France. He also established an advanced state-of-the-art R&D lab on “Multiferroic, Spintronics & Magnetics Standard” at NPL.
Dr. Kotnala supported Industries for Magnetic Materials, Measurements and Power Loss in Electrical Steel used as core material for Transformer: IEC 404-2. Quality-system developed for industries in addition to industrial metrology facilities. Consultancy service is also rendered to big industrial houses & PSUs for solving magnetic materials & measurements associated with complex problems as a Lead Assessor of NABL for ISO: 17025 certification.
In magnetic Standard lab earth’s magnetic field measurement facility was established using single axis and tri-axial fluxgate magnetometers with a range: 100 µT-1000 µT and uncertainty of 10 -4. After establishing precision magnetic measurement lab at NPL, Dr. Kotnala established different methods of magnetic measurements at international level with high precision. This unique facility has proven a big support to Indian industries and trade sector for globally acceptable world class standards on magnetism. It has also led to precise geomagnetism and solid earth magnetism experimentations, conceived by Dr. Kotnala. His contributions have been recognized by electing him fellow IGU, MRSI medal award and NPL team award. His scientific contributions have been very well acclaimed internationally in magnetic materials R&D, innovative sensor development in related area and precision magnetic measurements. It is proven through publishing research papers in high impact journal, US patent (please see the list of publications) and inviting him as a technical programme member (a rare honor) for international conference on precision electromagnetic measurements CPEM 2010, S.Korea.
Experiments on Variations in Geomagnetism were conducted on Solar Eclipse Day, July 22,2009 at National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, India. This experiment was covered in the three Delhi Newspapers on July23, 2009 and Aug 1, 2009. In this experiment geomagnetism variations were recorded simultaneously by three different fluxgate magnetometers with a higher accuracy than earlier one experiment performed. On July 22, 2009 the day of solar eclipse again he had conducted an experiment since 6.00 a.m. to 10.00 a.m. in the open field of National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi- Experiment recorded different components of Earth’s magnetic field using a highly precision fluxgate magnetometer. It was observed that both the vertical component (V) and the total magnetic field intensity (F) remained depressed by about 100 nT on the day of eclipse compared to the other normal solar days. However, no appreciable change could be detected in the horizontal component (H) of the earth’s magnetic field. The total uncertainty in the measurement of variation in earth’s vertical component of magnetic field is ±1 nT. This data is of paramount interest to telecommunication engineers, Geophysical Scientists, atmospheric science researchers. Such measurements are very useful for navigation purposes, ionosphere communication for electromagnetic waves, earthquake precursor predictions etc. This was the only crucial scientific experiment carried out in Delhi on Geomagnetism and Dr. Kotnala was invited to Taiwan for data comparison on solar eclipse. Some magnetic measurements on minerals have also been carried out.
One of the most important and sophisticated equipment Vibrating sample magnetometer for measuring the magnetic moment of magnetic materials had been installed in 2002 in magnetic standards lab by Dr. Kotnala. The VSM instrument has been intensively used to observe the magnetic character of the material and is still operative. Temperature dependent magnetic characteristics has been extensively investigated by operating VSM with liquid nitrogen and high temperature oven.