Laboratory Course in Contemporary Physics
PHYSICS 247
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
Students will engage in the practice and discussion of experimental science by completing three projects, drawn from the fields of condensed matter, atomic, optical, nuclear, and/or particle physics. Laboratory techniques, theoretical understanding, data analysis methods, and scientific reading and writing skills are developed in collaboration with a lab partner, and with guidance from a team of experimental physics faculty and staff. Students will learn to write the results of each project in a format that is appropriate for a peer-reviewed journal. Available experiments range from classics of the twentieth century such as relativistic mass of the electron, lifetime of the muon, superfluid helium, and the quantum Hall effect, to topics of current interest such as slow light, nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, superconductivity and the Meissner effect, optical tweezers, and ultrafast optical spectroscopy.
Course Notes
A substantial amount of outside reading is expected. Physics 247 is the same course as Physics 191; if you are an undergraduate, please enroll in 191.
Available for Harvard Cross Registration
