About the Advanced Laboratory Course

The Advanced Laboratory Course has three teaching goals: To provide students with a variety of experimentalist skills, to expose students to a collection of topics in experimental physics, and to provide a sense of the nature of independent research. The Laboratory itself has a large inventory of instrumentation and equipment, including mechanical, electronic, and optical components, that support a broad spectrum of experiments.

The Advanced Laboratory has two phases. The first phase consists of pre-designed experiments, chosen by the student from a list covering topics in Electronics, Modern Physics, and Optics. A written report follows the completion of each experiment. About mid-semester, the student begins to conceive of an independent experimental project covering any field relevant to experimental physics. This project is the focus of the second phase, beginning in early April. The instructors make every effort to support original and creative projects. At the end of the semester, the student submits an extended project report and also gives a short oral presentation.

Instructors

Henry Kapteyn
phone:
2-8198
email: Henry.Kapteyn@colorado.edu    JILA A703

Matt Glaser
phone:
2-3029
email: Matthew.Glaser@colorado.edu   

Duane F515

Lectures Spring 2008

Tuesdays
January 13
Overview (Kapteyn and Glaser)
January 20
Laser safety and optics care (Kapteyn)

January 27
Lasers
(Kapteyn)

February 3
Vacuum systems, spectroscopy
(Dessau)
February 10
Scanning probe microscopy
(McElroy)
February 17
Confocal microscopy, optical trapping
(Smalyukh)

February 24
Particle detectors
(Nagle)

March 3
Microfluidics
(Glaser)
March 10
Keck lab tour, nanofab
(Rogers)
March 17
X-ray scattering
(Clark)