Development of Upper-Division Solid State and Plasma PhysicsLaboratories

当代感兴趣领域的专业高级实验室是至关重要的物理课程的重要组成部分。西方大学物理系的这个项目正在发展固态和等离子体物理领域的两个这样的实验室。这些实验室将与系已提供的讲授课程同时进行，通过向学生介绍当前科学研究中使用的类型的实验技术，补充特定主题的讲授，并扩大这些课程的范围。在固态实验室中，学生研究重要的凝聚态现象，如电阻率、载流子的极性、晶体带隙、电子-空穴复合、半导体的杂质掺杂和半导体统计。这些实验让学生熟悉低温技术，并介绍最先进的仪器，如锁定放大器、扫描单色仪和数字化示波器。许多实验涉及计算机控制的数据采集和复杂的数据分析方案(例如，车厢相关器)。等离子体实验室是小型文理学院的第一个此类实验室，基于两个定制的等离子体封闭机：双等离子体和纯电子等离子体设备。通过七个实验，学生将探索单粒子漂移、等离子体波的色散和衰减、等离子体的稳定性和输运。此外，学生还将熟悉真空技术和计算机控制的数据采集/分析技术。美国国家科学基金会的资助资金将与非联邦来源的资金相匹配。

Specialized upper-division laboratories in fields of contemporary interest are an important component of a vital physics curriculum. This Occidental College Physics Department project is developing two such laboratories in the areas of solid state and plasma physics. These laboratories, to be taken concurrently with lecture courses already offered by the department, complement the lecture presentation of particular topics as well as broaden the scope of these courses by introducing students to experimental techniques of the type used in current scientific research.In the solid state laboratory, students investigate important condensed matter phenomena such as resistivity, the polarity of charge carriers, the crystalline bandgap, electron-hole recombination, impurity doping of a semiconductor, and semiconductor statistics. The experiments familiarize students with cryogenic techniques and introduce state-of-the-art instrumentation such as a lock-in amplifier, scanning monochromator and digitizing oscilloscope. Many of the experiments involve computer-controlled data acquisition and sophisticated data analysis schemes (e.g., boxcar correlator).The plasma laboratory, the first of its kind at a small liberal arts college, is based on two custom made plasma-containment machines: the double plasma and the pure electron plasma devices. Through seven experiments, students explore single particle drifts, plasma wave dispersion and damping, plasma stability, and transport. Additionally, students become acquainted with vacuum technology and computer- controlled data acquisition/analysis techniques.NSF grant funds are being matched with funds from non-federal sources.