Advanced Lab introduction
Chuck Rogers, Kevin Stenson, and
Ben Zwickl
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys3340/
Goals of advanced lab
Our main goal is to get you thinking and acting like a
practicing physicist. This includes skills such as:
• Able to effectively and safely use common lab equipment
• Develop the confidence to explore why a lab isn’t working
as planned and experiment with possible solutions.
• Learn to constantly ask yourself if the results make sense
and, if not, where the discrepancy lies.
• Analyze data to extract results with uncertainties. This
includes fits to lines and curves, proper averaging, etc.
• Write coherent reports in the style of a journal article
complete with figures and references.
• Give oral presentations with Powerpoint slides which
concisely summarize your work
General summary of term
• The first week you will be working on the projecting
microscope experiment and developing your plan for which
experiments you will perform.
• During weeks 2-10 (until spring break) you will do the
experiments you have planned.
• During the 4 weeks after spring break you will work on an
independent project (similar to the electronics lab project).
• Each week is worth 20 points which comes from prelabs,
lab reports, and oral presentations. There are also 20
instructor discretion points based on observation of work,
participation in studies, and lab notebook (which is turned
in at the end of the semester).
Requirements for each lab
• The prelab is due Wednesday at 5pm, the day after you
start a lab.
• Oral presentation of the previous lab takes place during the
lab period when you start a new lab.
• Lab report of the previous lab is due Wednesday at 5pm,
the day after you start a new lab.
• You also need to post a filled out 3x5 note card each week.
Exception: There will be no oral presentations for the
projecting microscope lab.
Information about the content & format of the prelab, report,
and presentations are found in the “Report format” link.
All written assignments should be
turned into the wire basket in the lab.
Prelab
• Most labs will have prelab questions which are designed to
help you do the lab.
• For each prelab you also need to answer the three
questions below (also at the “Report format” link):
1) What do I hope to learn by doing this lab?
2) What equipment or techniques do I expect to know more about
at the end of the lab?
3) Where do I expect to have the most challenging time in doing the
experiment?
• As your prelab answers will often be needed to do the lab,
you should write the answers in your notebook and turn in
a photocopy.
Lab report and oral presentation
• Details are available at the “Report format” link.
We are looking for the following:
– Evidence that you understand the physics involved
(which is not proven by copying the lab manual)
– Evidence that you have correctly calculated and
propagated any uncertainties in your results.
– Evidence that you understand your results.
– Clearly written/delivered, figures which convey meaning
and are properly labeled, correct units, etc.
Your experiment plan
• During the first week, you will probably work in groups of 3.
• During the remaining weeks we strongly recommend you
work in pairs.
• By Friday you need to find a lab partner and compile the list
of experiments you wish to perform. This should be turned
in by 5pm Friday.
• You are not restricted in any way by the class you signed up
for.
Default optics experiment schedule
1. Projection Microscope (1 week)
2. Fraunhofer Diffraction (1 week)
3. Fourier Optics (1 week)
4. Michelson Interferometer (2 weeks)
5. Holography (2 weeks)
6. Hydrogen Spectrum (2 weeks)
7. Polarized Light (2 weeks)
8. Nonlinear Optics (1 week)
9. Laser Spectroscopy (3 weeks)
10. Atom trapping (3 weeks)
This adds up to 18 weeks and there are only 10 weeks of
experiments. Recommend at least two of expts 2-4 and pick and
choose the rest. Note that atom trapping requires laser
spectroscopy.
Modern physics experiments
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Absolute Measurement of the Faraday (2 weeks)
Scanning tunneling microscope (3 weeks)
Gamma ray spectroscopy (3 weeks)
Earth’s field nuclear magnetic resonance (2 weeks)
Pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance (3 weeks)
Lifetime of muons generated by cosmic rays (3 weeks)
Soliton propagation (2 weeks)
Acoustic feflectometer (2 weeks)
X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (3 weeks)
X-ray (and other) optical diffraction (3 weeks)
Generally pick and choose whichever. The pulsed
NMR should only be done after the Earth’s field NMR.
Lectures and shop course
• For the first few weeks we will have lectures on
Tuesday and Thursday from 1-1:50pm in E064.
• Lectures will introduce you to various areas of
physics and lab techniques.
Exception: The lecture on Thursday will be in the student
shop near the physics loading dock. Sid Gustafson will
introduce you to the shop and encourage you to enroll in the
shop training class. This is a one week course from 8-10 M-F
which is offered the week of 1/24 and 1/31. He will have a
sign-up sheet available.
Final notes
• This is a 3 credit course (remember 2150 is a 1 credit
course and J-lab is a 2 credit course). You will be spending
a lot of time in lab, writing reports, and preparing
presentations. You will have access to the lab anytime.
• We will also be providing a few laptops in lab with data
analysis software.
• Both professors are available (almost) anytime if you have
questions. Feel free to send email, call us, or come find us.
We cannot read your mind; you need to contact us if you
are running into problems.