Instructor:

Chen-Yu Liu

Swain West 338
phone: 812-855-2896
email: CL21@indiana.edu  

Support staff:

Megan Divine

 

Swain West 132
phone: 812-855-2220
email: meeknapp@indiana.edu 

Schedule:

Thursdays, 1:25 - 5:10 p.m. in Swain West 125

Office hours:

Wednesdays, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. in Swain West 125

Prerequisites:

·         P301 (Modern Physics, or equivalent) and

·         P309 (Modern Physics Lab, or equivalent)

·         Recommended: P453 (Quantum Mechanics)

Course goals:

In this class you will learn advanced laboratory techniques and methods while investigating topics in modern physics, i.e. phenomena discovered in the last 100 years that exhibit the quantum-mechanical nature of the universe. You will become acquainted with methods and equipment used in the research lab and will practice with these while learning how to solve the problems that arise. You will learn how to analyze the resulting data, how to draw conclusions about the physics, and how to present your findings to a wider audience.

The experiments you will be doing in this course are not "cookbook" labs. You will be given writeups with an assignment, but the tasks will be similar to a situation that you may encounter in a graduate school or industrial research project. A quantity or effect will be identified and your goal will be to measure or investigate it. Not everything will be spelled out. Your job will be to learn how to effectively and efficiently make a quantifiable statement about nature. This is ultimately the goal of an experimental physicist.

An (incomplete) list of skills that you will learn/practice/master are:

·         Advanced experimental techniques and equipment,

·         Problem solving,

·         Data and error analysis,

·         How to write an experimental report,

·         Presentation of results.

Textbook:

D.W. Preston and E.R. Dietz, The Art of Experimental Physics , Wiley, 1991.

Many of the experiments that we will do are explained in more depth in this text and it contains much good reference material.

A logbook is required. It must be bound, and the pages must be cross-hatched and numbered. We recommend type #43-64x (or equivalent), available, e.g., at the IU bookstore.

Here is list of useful text and reference books .

Course Requirements:

We have approximately a dozen experimental stations in the Modern Physics Lab. We will start in the first 5 weeks of class by doing 4 introductory experiments in teams to learn some requisite equipment and methods. In addition, we'll have some homework assignments and class discussions. Then, for the next 8 weeks we will work on the "core" experiments. In the last week of class there we will present results on the last experiment. See the Experiments Page for more info on the experiments available. Here are the details of the course requirements:

·         Part I of course (first 5 weeks):

o        In teams of two, do each of the four introductory experiments (one per week) in group 1.

o        Record all your work in your logbook, summarize each experiment on one or two pages of your logbook.

o        A few sets of exercises will be handed out for you to work and to submit.

·         Part II of course (last 9 weeks):

o        As individuals, or in pairs, do four of the core experiments.

o        Again, keep a good (neat and complete) logbook.

o        Write a lab report for the first three of these experiments. These write-ups will be due the week following.

o        Present the fourth experiment orally during the last class period. There will be no written report for the fourth experiment.

You are required to come to class every Thursday that our class meets. The instructor will be available in the lab during office hours - you may work on the lab and get additional assistance during that time. Also, you will be given a key to the lab so that you can work on your own as needed.

In order to keep the lab environment functioning, we all have do our part to keep it neat and organized. You will be required to:

·         Always leave an experiment in a state where it is working as well or better than when you started.

·         Keep the lab clean and organized, e.g. tools put away, broken equipment identified (labelled with data, name, what's the problem?), etc.

When we finish the semester, with your help, the lab will be in much better shape than when we started. That is an important skill to learn as well. Part of your lab grade will be based on these items.

You are required to prepare thoroughly for every new experiment that you begin. These experiments are not trivial and take some time to understand and setup. You need to read the experimental writeup and references before you begin working on the lab. Lack of preparation leads to frustration and loss of time, and will be discouraged.

Safety:

There are several potential safety hazards in this laboratory, primarily involving high voltage or radioactive sources. You will be instructed on safe handling procedures and the use of monitoring equipment. A copy of the University Radiation Safety Regulations is kept in the laboratory for your reference. Please look it over. The most important safety rule is: think beforehand about what you are going to do. Always be conscious of the hazards around you.

Radiation safety officer: Gregory Crouch.

• Radiation Safety

The small radioactive sources that we will use should be handled in such a way as to minimize exposure. Your level of exposure is proportional to the time that you handle the source, and is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source. So we will minimize the exposure time, maximize the distance, and use shielding as much as possible. After use, radioactive sources should be returned to the instructor for storage. They are not to leave the lab. Two items are sufficiently `hot' that they can be used only under the direct supervision of the instructor: the Neutron Beam Irradiation Facility, and the Co-57 Mössbauer source. Because radioactive sources may be in use, eating and drinking are not allowed in the lab.

• Chemical Safety

In this lab, you will find a lot of lead brinks. We used lead bricks to shield radioactive sources. It is important to handle lead bricks carefully. It could break your toes if dropped. Wear protection gloves and remember to wash your hands after handling lead bricks.

• High Voltage Safety

The photomultiplier tube power supplies can generate fairly high voltages (~1000-1500 V). Though these supplies are current limited, they can produce a nasty shock if mishandled. Just to be safe, never work alone around apparatus using high voltage.

There are also power supplies used for many of the experiments. Be careful working with these. Observe the one-hand rule.

Students with disabilities:

If any student will require assistance or appropriate academic accommodations for a disability, please contact me after class, during my office hours or by individual appointment. You must have established your eligibility for disability support services through the Office of Disabled Student Services in 096 Franklin Hall, 855-7578.  The Physics Department disabilities representative is Dan Beeker. His office is in Swain West, room 115. His phone and e-mail are 855-5903, debeeker@indiana.edu. You are encouraged to contact him if you have questions about or difficulties with departmental accomodations.

Computers:

We currently have several computers for the Modern Physics Lab. Several are used for data acquisition and most of them can be used for data analysis and miscellaneous. These may all be used for data analysis and plots, however, do not overuse them. Try to do an experiment completely before using the computer to make final plots. It is easy to get caught up in learning how to make this or that plot just right, when it could be done by hand, in your logbook, much more quickly and efficiently.

We'll use Visual C++ for data acquisition, Loggor Pro, Excel for data analysis (and perhaps a few other tools later). Remember to keep your use of computers to a minimum. An important skill to learn is how to efficiently do experiments - sometimes the use of a computer helps, yet sometimes trying to use a computer makes an experiment inefficient.