During the Fall term (8.13), the first two sessions familiarize students with the lab and give everyone a common foundation in experimental techniques, data analysis, and computing tools. In the next 3 hour session, students conduct two short introductory experiments. Following this introductory period, students plan and execute four longer experiments. The first experiment is executed in five (3 hour) lab sessions, while the last three are done in four lab sessions each. The term culminates in a week-long series of public oral presentations given by students to peers, friends, and faculty.
During the Spring term (8.14), the first session is dedicated to selecting partners and brief introductory notes by section instructors. Students then select four different experiments, each of which will require five separate (3 hour) lab sessions.
Below are the experiments from which students can select for the Fall and Spring terms. The experiment "21 cm radio astrophysics" is offered during both terms.
Course calendar, Fall Term8.13 FALL TERM |
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Introductory experiments | Optics | Photoelectric effect | Poisson statistics | Electromagnetic pulses | | Regular experiments | Compton scattering | The Franck-Hertz experiment | Relativistic dynamics | Pulsed NMR: spin echoes | The speed and mean life of Cosmic-Ray Muons | Rutherford scattering | Optical emission spectra of hydrogenic atoms | X-ray physics | Neutron physics | Johnson noise and shot noise | The quantum mechanics of alpha decay | 21 cm radio astrophysics | | | Course calendar, Spring Term8.14 SPRING TERM |
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Regular experiments | The Zeeman effect | Optical pumping of Rb vapor | Pulsed NMR: spin echoes | Mossbauer spectroscopy | Superconductivity | 21 cm radio astrophysics | Doppler-free laser spectroscopy | Quantum information processing | |