Physics 451 Introduction To Experiments

The experiments which we do this semester are divided into several broad categories. Within each category, there are some experiments which you will be designing and doing for the first time in this lab. Whenever it is appropriate, you will connect the experimental technique to some technological use which has been made of the physical systems (in some cases this will be very easy, in others it will be very difficult. I will help you decide which is which.)

You will be expected to learn (by reading outside of class and discussions with us in class) what the physical phenomena is; what kind of experimental techniques we use; how to do the experiment and interpret the results; and, in some cases, what the connection is between your experiment and the real world (NMR and MRI for example). The level of sophistication of data taking and analysis ranges from "taken by hand data", to "interfaced to the computer data". Although there ia a strong theoretical foundation for each experiment, usually we will not obtain a numerical result which we can compare with theoretical predictions.  The emplhasis is on learning to measure and observing the phenomena and its dependance on some physical parameter.

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  1. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

    2.  

  2. Superconductivity
    1. Electric and magnetic properties of elemental metal superconductors
    2. "Mr. SQUID" - a superconducting "gizmo"
  1. Superfluidity
    1. The Lambda point - the transition from a normal to a superconducting fluid.
    2. Second Sound - thermal waves in a superfluid.
  1. X-Ray Diffraction

    2.  

  2. Nuclear Radiation Physics
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More Details on the Experiments *Physics 451*
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{ updated: 1996.08.26 (Monday) 20:27:00 EDT }