Course Description

PH451: Special Topics in Experimental Physics

This course introduces learning various experimental techniques and performing basic experiments for research. More than ten professors in experimental physics will participate in this course. Two hours of lecture and three hours of experimental instruction are provided each week. Topics include: vacuum techniques and surface analysis of thin film, high power laser and power amplification experiments, semiconducting multilayered laser devices, fabrication and characterization of magnetic superlattice films, magnetic resonance and nuclear magnetic resonance measurements, amorphous semiconducting thin film deposition techniques, principles and applications of optical fibers, generation and characterization of plasma, remote sensing, high power pulsed laser and laser-plasma interactions, ultrasonics and magnetism, crystal growth and X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and optical property measurements of semiconductors.

Topical prerequisites: Completion of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year experimental physics courses.