Development of an Advanced Physics and Instrumentation Laboratory

该项目继续开发面向理工科专业高年级本科生的高级物理与电子学实验室。该项目直接影响(1)现代物理实验课和(2)电子仪器实验课。物理和计算机工程方面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以及对这些数据进行计算机辅助分析所需的技能。随着学生学习现代物理和电子仪器的基本概念，他们将获得与标准实验室传感器的硬件接口、实验室仪器控制和图形化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。正在编写一本实验室手册，并在网上分发，作为本校园和其他学校未来学生的指南。该装置包括(1)8台带数据采集接口和配套仪器软件的高速微型计算机，(2)一台指导式X射线衍射仪。这台设备是对过去三年建造的先进物理实验室设备的补充。远程实验室中的其他实验将放在网上，并可通过大学的局域网在先进的实验室中进行访问。其中几个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.