This is a laboratory course on experimental physics for undergraduate physics majors (414) and graduate students in physics and astronomy (521). The laboratory experiments are located in DRL in rooms 2N23, 2N25, and 2N44. These rooms are open from 9am to 6pm Monday through Friday and at other times if the student has obtained a key for access. The most important rule to remember about this course is at no time should a student work alone in the laboratory.
Dr. Jose Vithayathil
DRL 2N27
Telephone: 8-3173 (office) or 610 520-2325 (home)
vithayat@dept.physics.upenn.edu
Prof. Joseph Kroll
DRL 3N4A
Telephone: 3-6380 (office) or 215 313 1615 (cell)
kroll@hep.upenn.edu
There will be an initial orientation and organizational meeting on Monday, 13 January 2003 from 4pm to 5pm in DRL 2C6. There will be three lectures total at the beginning of the the term on statistical analysis of data and a short introduction to atomic and nuclear physics. The lectures will take place in DRL 2C6 Monday and Friday from 4pm to 5pm. The first lecture will be Friday, 17 January 2003 Students in 414 are required to attend these lectures and the orientation meeting.
A preliminary version of the laboratory manual is available in DRL 2N27 or here. The final version for Spring 2003 will be available by the first orientational meeting.
There are some recommended textbooks and some references on reserve in the Math/Physics library.
Statistics for Nuclear and Particle Physicists by Louis Lyons is recommended and is available in the bookstore.
Unfortunately the textbook will not be available
in the bookstore for three weeks,
please use the reference copy
that is on reserve in the library.
There is one homework assignment (available here) on statistics. Please turn in this assignment with your first lab write-up.
You are expected to do three labs. If you feel you are inexperienced with laboratory work and you would like to make sure the first lab you attempt is straightforward, we recommend you try one of the following experiments:
Of your three experiments, only one should be from the list above. Of the remaining experiments, the gamma ray correlation measurement in 60Ni and the optical pumping of Rubidium vapor are the most challenging.
Complete lab reports are due as indicated in the table below. You will give a presentation on each lab about a week after you hand in your report. The presentation should take no more than 12 minutes, not including questions. We suggest, therefore, that you practice your presentation before you give it to make sure you are within the time limit. Late lab reports or presentations will have the grade reduced by 10%. You are expected to keep a laboratory notebook that you will use to record your data. Please purchase a "computation notebook" that is 11 3/4 inches by 9 1/4 inches with quadruled paper. You will hand in your lab book with your reports. Do not write data on loose pieces of paper and then transcribe these data into your lab book. This practice will be actively discouraged by the instructors.
| Date | Assignment | Grading |
|---|---|---|
| Jan. 13 | Orientation meeting | |
| Feb. 04 | 1st Lab Report & Homework Due | 15% |
| Feb. 11,12 | 1st Presentation | 5% |
| Feb. 25 | 2nd Lab Report Due | 25% |
| Mar. 04,05 | 2nd Presentation | 15% |
| Apr. 08 | 3rd Lab Report Due | 25% |
| Apr. 15,16 | 3rd Presentation | 15% |
| Apr. 25 | Last Day of Classes |
You are encouraged to do the first two labs with a partner. The third lab, however, must be a solo effort. For labs done with a partner, you will hand in a joint lab report, and you will make individual presentations on the laboratory.
The lab reports should be written the style of a research article at a level accessible to upper division physics majors. Each report should contain