Development of an Advanced Physics and Instrumentation Laboratory

本项目是为理工科本科高年级学生建设高等物理电子实验室的延续。该项目直接影响到(1)现代物理实验课程和(2)电子仪器实验课程。物理和计算机工程的其他课程也将受益于这一设施。该项目的指导主题是提供为涉及实时信号的实验设计和实施虚拟仪器所需的技能，并对这些数据进行计算机辅助分析。当学生学习现代物理和电子仪器的基本概念时，他们将获得标准实验室换能器的硬件接口，实验室仪器控制和图形编程现代数据采集系统的第一手经验。学生们为这些实验设计了自己的虚拟仪器。一份实验室手册正在准备中，并在网上分发，作为本校区和其他学校未来学生的指南。该设备包括(1)8台带有数据采集接口和配套仪器软件的高速微型计算机，以及(2)一台教学x射线衍射仪。这台设备是对过去三年建成的先进物理实验室设备的补充。在远程实验室进行的其他实验将放在网上，并将通过大学的局域网进入先进实验室。其中一些实验将在互联网上供其他人使用。所有规范和实验室文件也将在网上分发。

This project continues development of an advanced physics and electronics laboratory for upper-level undergraduates majoring in science and engineering. The project directly impacts (1) a laboratory course in modern physics and (2) the laboratory for a course in electronic instrumentation. Additional courses in physics and computer engineering will also benefit from this facility. The guiding theme for the project is to provide skills needed to design and implement virtual instrumentation for experiments involving real time signals and to perform computer assisted analysis of these data. As students learn fundamental concepts in modern physics and electronic instrumentation, they gain first hand experience in hardware interfacing to standard laboratory transducers, control of laboratory instrumentation, and graphical programming modern data acquisition systems. The students design their own virtual instruments for these experiments. A laboratory manual is being prepared and distributed on-line as a guide for future students both on this campus and at other schools. The equipment includes (1) eight high-speed microcomputers with data acquisition interfaces and supporting instrumentation software, and (2) an instructional x-ray diffraction apparatus. This equipment complements the advanced physics laboratory apparatus constructed over the past three years. Additional experiments housed in remote laboratories will be placed on-line and will be accessible in the advanced laboratory through the university's local area network. Several of these experiments will be on he Internet for others to use. All codes and laboratory documents will also be distributed on-line.