PHYS451: Advanced Physics Laboratory

In Advanced Lab II students will have access to a wide array of experiments, and will be able to choose which experiments they are most interested to pursue.  The course builds on the knowledge gained in Advanced Lab I and
expands your experimental skills, while introducing you to a variety of different physical phenomena.

The course goals are:

• To further students' knowledge and abilities in error analysis,
• To train students in formal manuscript writing, including: Literature searches, proper citations, placing current
  work in context, typesetting via LaTeX, including an explanation and expansion of the theoretical framework of the experiment,
• Teaching students to write and/or modify data acquisition programs in Matlab and LabVIEW,
• To teach students experimental design skills: in particular, how to translate an design idea on paper into a working physical experiment, and
• To teach students how to take an experiment from start to finish, including: design and manufacture of experimental apparatus, data acquisition, data analysis, conclusions and future work.