Graduate Research in Condensed Matter and Optical Physics

Instructor:

Chih-Wei Lai, cwlai@msu.edu, Office: 4238 BPS.

Guest Instructors:

Prof. John McGuire, Prof. Brage Golding, Prof. Ruby Ghosh,
Tom Palazzolo, Dr. Baokang Bi, Dr. Reza Loloee.

Course Description and Objectives

A 6-week summer course will be offered for graduate students prior to embarking on PhD research. The objective is to provide each student with resources and tools for future research and career development.
The analytical and experimental techniques covered in this course are basic to graduate research in condensed matter physics and in atomic, molecular, and optical physics. General topics such as literature searches, laboratory automation, and optical methods (which are applicable to chemistry and biophysics) will also be covered.

Time period: July 12 to August 16
Format: a weekly 3-hr lecture/discussion plus a 3-hr lab
Lecture: 9-12 am Monday
Laboratory: 1:30-5 pm Monday
Location: BPS 4270 (Lecture) and BPS 1245 (Lab)

Course Description, Syllabus and Schedule (pdf)

Class Notes

Summary(pdf)

Optics (zip)

Electronics (zip)

Mechanical Design & Fabrication (zip)

Vacuum Techniques and Cryogenics(zip)

Computing and Lab Automation (zip)

Scientific Writing and Presentation (zip)

Facilities and KMF in CMP at MSU (zip)

Presentation Slides by Students

• Optical Pumping Expeirment (pdf)
• Pulse Nuclear Magnetic Resonace Expeirment (pdf)

Acknowledgements:

Several guest lectures were given by the following instructors: Drs. Baokang Bi, Ruby Ghosh, Reza Loloee, John McGuire, and Mr. Tom Palazzolo. Dr. Brage Golding provided numerous suggestions during the planning phase of this course/workshop. Some lecture slides were adapted from online notes available at High Feild Laser Physics and Ultrafast Technology Summer School (Academia Sinica, Taiwan).

© 2009 The Lai Group | Department of Physics and Astronomy | Michigan State University