SENIOR

PHYSICS LABORATORY

Senior Experimental Physics Handbook 2011

These notes are for students enrolled in any of the following units of study. The number of credit points allocated to the Physics laboratory component of each unit is given in parenthesis:

Semester 1
PHYS 3040, 3940 Electromagnetism & Lab (4 credit points) PHYS 3051, 3951 Thermodynamics/Biol. Physics & Lab (2 credit points) PHYS 3052, 3952 Nanoscience/Thermodynamics & Lab (2 credit points) PHYS 3054, 3954 Nanoscience/Plasma Physics & Lab (2 credit points)

Semester 2
PHYS 3060, 3960 Quantum Mechanics & Lab (4 credit points) PHYS 3062, 3962 Quantum Mechanics/Cond. Matter & Lab (2 credit points) PHYS 3068, 3968 Optics/Cond. Matter & Lab (2 credit points) PHYS 3069, 3969 Optics/High Energy & Lab (2 credit points) PHYS 3071, 3971 High Energy/Astrophysics & Lab (2 credit points) PHYS 3074, 3974 High Energy/Cond. Matter & Lab (2 credit points)

Updated DJR & SCF 27 February 2011

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Contents
1 Organisation ............................................................................................................................3
1.1 The laboratory............................................................................................................................3 1.2 Laboratory opening times..........................................................................................................3 1.3 The Experiments ........................................................................................................................3 1.4 Booking an experiment ..............................................................................................................4 1.5 Number of experiments, reports and talks to be done .............................................................5 1.6 Laboratory staff..........................................................................................................................5 1.7 Schedule for 2011 ......................................................................................................................6 1.8 Schedule for reports ..................................................................................................................8 1.9 Laboratory Pre-work ..................................................................................................................8 1.10 Logbooks and reports ..............................................................................................................8 1.11 Talks .........................................................................................................................................9 1.12 Posters .....................................................................................................................................9 1.13 Electronics Assignment ..........................................................................................................10

Assessment .........................................................................................................................10
2.1 2.2 2.3 Unit Assessment ...................................................................................................................10 Report Marking Scheme.......................................................................................................11 Logbook Marking Criteria .....................................................................................................11

3 Administrative Details ..........................................................................................................12

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Dishonesty ............................................................................................................................12 Email.....................................................................................................................................13 Where to go for help ............................................................................................................13 Providing us with feedback ..................................................................................................13 Consideration of factors affecting your study ......................................................................14 Special Consideration or Special Arrangements...................................................................14 University Policies ................................................................................................................15

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Organisation

1.1 The laboratory

The laboratory is on the ground floor of the Physics Annex (Room 254). Students should regularly check email for notices. Inside the laboratory there are shelves with pigeonholes used for housing your logbooks. Note that, as a general rule, students work individually.

1.2 Laboratory opening times

The laboratory is open Monday, Tuesday and Friday afternoons from 2 to 6 pm. Students are allowed access to the laboratory at other times, e.g., to gain access to the computers, provided staff are present. Contact Marek Dolleiser or David Reilly to arrange access.

1.3 The Experiments

1* 2 5 6 7 8 10 12 13 14* 15 16* 17 Photonic Amplifier Data acquisition with computers A Data acquisition with computers B Thermal Noise Transmission lines Wave propagation Microwaves RF breakdown of gases Langmuir probes X-ray diffraction Nuclear magnetic resonance Electron spin resonance Optical pumping X-rays 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 27 28 29 30 31 Mossbauer effect Cosmic radiation Beta decay Alpha particles Gamma radiation Nuclear lifetimes Michelson interferometer Reflection Characteristics Fourier Optics Interference spectroscopy Galactic Dynamics Thin-Film Deposition Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

The experiments are collected together in four groups as follows. One tutor is normally assigned to look after each group of experiments: Plasma & materials Nuclear Optics Waves Experiments 2, 10, 12, 13, 14, 30, 31 Experiments 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 Experiments 1, 16, 24, 26, 27, 28 Experiments 5, 6, 7, 8, 15, 29

The experiments are paced so that most students should be able to complete them in two laboratory sessions. A small number of experiments (marked above with *) are double length experiments and are to be completed in four lab sessions. Double experiments are worth double marks. Experiment 2 consists of two parts, A and B, which are set up on separate benches.

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1.4 Booking an experiment

The laboratory has an online system to organise experiment booking and to collect and report marks. It is important that you understand this new system. It is accessible over the web from anywhere at:

www.physics.usyd.edu.au/lab3b
Most students will be pre-registered on the system and will simply need to set their passwords (the initial password will be advised at the intro session). Some students, especially those who have enrolled late or changed their details, may not be pre-registered and will need to contact Simon Fleming by email, or see him in the lab at the start of a session. Booking Experiments The system will automatically allocate you experiments. To do this however it is essential that you tell it when you are available. You will be presented with a calendar. Click on those dates when you are available to do lab (we do not have access to your timetable information so cannot set this up for you). If you do not input this data you will not be assigned experiments. You should then tell the system which experiments you prefer. Simply re-order the list of experiments in your order of preference (1 = most preferred) and save. The system will, on a regular basis, seek to optimise the allocation of labs and notify you by email of your allocation. You can also check this allocation online. However, it is very important that the email address the system has is for an account you check regularly, or that you forward it.
If you need to change your booking, please speak to Marek Dolleiser or email Simon Fleming.

Recording Marks At any time you can check on the online system to see your marks. You should ensure that when a Tutor has marked your lab book that they also enter the mark in the on-line system. Marks for reports, talks, posters and assignments will be entered online.

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1.5 Number of experiments, reports and talks to be done

Look at the front cover of this handbook and determine the TOTAL number of laboratory credit points that you are doing this semester. The total should be 2, 4, 6, or 8 credit points. This will determine the number of experiments you need to complete, as well as the number of reports, talks, and poster presentations. A summary is given below:

Credit points Experiments Reports Posters Talks

2 3 1 0 0

4 5 2 0 1

6 8 2 1 1

8 10 3 1 2

Note that double experiments, (those marked with a * on page 4) count as two experiments. The single report for a double experiment counts as two reports and it is expected that the student has put in double the effort in its preparation. The report length should be approximately the same as regular reports. Students writing reports on double experiments are advised to seek advice from a tutor on their report prior to submitting. Once you have booked an experiment you must complete it in two lab periods (or in four for double experiments). At times outside those that you have booked, students can still come to the lab to complete any unnished analysis in their logbooks. The last week of each semester is set aside for students to present a short talk on one (or possibly two) of the experiments they have completed during the semester. In the second last week of each semester, 6 and 8 credit point students will present a poster presentation. Guidelines for preparing talks and posters are given below.

1.6 Laboratory staff

Laboratory coordinator Dr David Reilly Room 357, david.reilly@sydney.edu.au Prof Simon Fleming Room 311, simon.eming@sydney.edu.au Senior Technical officer Tutors Mr Marek Dolleiser Dr David Reilly Dr Ian Falconer Prof. Dick Hunstead Assoc. Prof. Brian James Dr Michael Biercuk Dr Alex Samarian Dr Bill Tango Dr Richard Tarrant Dr Richard Thompson Ms Ewa Rej

Each tutor specialises in one of the groups of experiments (i.e., Plasma, Optics, Nuclear 5

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or Waves), but should be able to provide some assistance with all experiments. Not all tutors will be available in the laboratory all the time. It will often be possible for you to contact a particular tutor when they are not in the laboratory and Mr Dolleiser will help you in this regard. Problems may also be overcome by talking to other tutors or fellow students.

1.7 Schedule for 2011

The first day of the week when lab is open is given below. Mostly the first day is a Monday except when there is a public holiday.

First semester
Week 1 (28 Feb) Week 2 (7 Mar) Week 3 (14 Mar) Week 4 (21 Mar) Week 5 (28 Mar) Week 6 (4 Apr) Week 7 (11 Apr) Week 8 (18 Apr) Week 9 (2 May) Week 10 (9 May) Week 11 (16 May) Week 12 (23 May) Week 13 (30 May) Registration and introduction to the Senior Laboratory 2 pm, Monday 28 February, Tuesday 1 March and Friday 4 March Lab session Lab session Lab session Lab session Lab session Lab session Lab session (Friday 22nd is a public holiday) Easter break Lab session Lab session Lab session Lab session Talks

Second semester Week 1 (25 July)
Registration and introduction to the Senior Laboratory. 2 pm, Monday 25 July, Tuesday 26 July and Friday 29 July Lab session Lab session Lab session Lab session Lab session Lab session Lab session Lab session Mid-semester break Week 10 (Tue 4 Oct) Week 11 (10 Oct) Week 12 (17 Oct) Lab session (Monday 3 October is a public holiday: Labour Day) Lab session Lab session

Week 2 (1 Aug) Week 3 (8 Aug) Week 4 (15 Aug) Week 5 (22 Aug) Week 6 (29 Aug) Week 7 (5 Sep) Week 8 (12 Sep) Week 9 (19 Sep)

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Week 13 (24 Oct)

Talks

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1.8 Schedule for reports

You will be required to submit reports on some of the experiments you do. Of course, logbook records must be kept for all experiments. Note that a penalty may be imposed for late submission of reports. Reports should be submitted to the Student Support Office, Room 202. The deadlines for regular reports are given below and, in general, correspond to close of business (5pm) on Friday of the appropriate week. All double experiments are due in week 12.

Deadline Credit points 2 4 6 8 Week 5 * * Week 7 * Week 9 * Week 12 * * * *

1.9 Laboratory Pre-work

Many of the experiments contain pre-work sections that are to be completed before commencing an experiment. Some of the experiments require students to view online resources before coming to lab. These can greatly help you get the most out of experiments. Students are expected to have read the experiment notes before coming to Lab and to have completed the required pre-work. Pre-work can be pasted or stapled into Lab logbooks. Failure to prepare for experiments before the commencement of Lab will often lead to incomplete experiments. When little attempt has been made at pre-work, tutors may insist that the student complete the pre-work before continuing with the experiment.

1.10 Logbooks and reports

Students must record their experiments in a University-supplied logbook as each experiment is carried out. This is the written record of the experiment involved. Students should carefully read the section Guidelines for Recording Experimental Work, in the supplementary notes, to see what is expected to be included in a logbook. Depending on the number of lab credit points you are taking, you will be required to write up (from the material already in your logbook) reports on one or more of the experiments you do (see section 2). Reports are to be written in the style of a scientific paper. Specifically, reports should conform to the style template of Physical Review Letters. The fact that a report is required for an experiment does not mean that the logbook record should be in any way inferior. The length of all reports is 4 pages, consistent with the journal Physical Review Letters.

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There are computers in the laboratory freely available for data analysis and report preparation. The following procedures should be followed with regard to logbooks and reports: In general, you cannot take your logbook out of the laboratory. If you wish to take your log book out of the laboratory, permission must rst be obtained from a tutor. Lab books are to be put in the pigeonhole allotted to you when you are out of the laboratory. Marks may be deducted if a logbook is found missing from a pigeonhole without permission. You are permitted to take the logbook out of the laboratory during the week in which the report is due. For example, you can take it home on the Monday (or Tuesday or Friday) of your lab day and return it with your report the following Monday (or Tuesday or Friday). It is the students responsibility to ensure the logbook is returned. When the logbook record of an experiment is completed (this will normally be done during the time allocated for the experiment) you should ensure that it is signed and dated by the tutor responsible for looking after your particular experiment. This signature will serve to confirm that the work has been completely satisfactorily. No marks will be awarded for unsigned checkpoints. Marks will be deducted for any pages torn out of your logbook. Similarly marks will be deducted if it is found that you have altered your logbook outside of laboratory hours. No work will be marked that has been added after a tutors final signature. Your logbook must contain an index. When an experiment is marked the tutor will enter the mark in this index. This will make it easier for tutors to check your progress. Reports must have a filled-in coversheet as their first page. Report cover sheets will be available in the laboratory, and on the web.

1.11 Talks
Towards the end of each semester 4, 6 & 8CP students will be asked to nominate one (or two for 8CP see section 1) experiment(s) for a 10 minute talk to be presented by the student to all the other students and the tutors. The talks should be pitched at a general physics audience. Assume your audience is intelligent, but has little background knowledge of your topic (think of yourself 1 year earlier). For example, you should provide an introduction to the physics underpinning your experiment, but it is not necessary to repeat your argument over and over. The talk should place your experimental results in the context of the physics they explore. At the end of the talk students will be asked questions by tutors and other students. In general these questions will be of a high standard, typical of a scientific conference. Students will be assessed on the basis of their answers, as well as the content and style of their presentation. Use of PowerPoint or equivalent presentation software is encouraged.

1.12 Posters
Students taking 6 and 8 credit points of lab are required to present a poster in addition to the talks. A poster session will be held in the last or second last week of the semester. Posters should be of A1 size and can be prepared, for instance, using MS PowerPoint. The Schools

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poster printer will be made available for printing. Poster boards will be made available in the Lab at the time of the student talks. Students are advised to watch for emails with further guidelines.

1.13 Electronics Assignment

In week 1 of semester an assignment will be issued, testing electronics knowledge. Students should refer to the Chapter of Horowitz and Hill, The Art of Electronics, available as a pdf on the Laboratory webpage. This assignment is due in Week 2.

Assessment

2.1 Unit Assessment

The assessment of the unit will be through marks awarded to the logbook write-ups, assignment, reports, talks, and posters. The logbook write-ups will be marked out of 5. In the exceptional circumstances where a student has done work that is above and beyond what is required in the lab, then an additional bonus mark will be given. Keep in mind that this bonus mark will only go to truly outstanding work. The reports will be graded out of 10. The maximum unscaled marks allotted to the various components of the course are as follows: Component Logbook write-ups Reports Talks Poster Electronics assign Marks 5 per experiment (plus 1 bonus mark) 10 per experiment 10 10 5

This means that the maximum achievable marks for: 2 CP is 3 logbook write-ups + 1 reports + 0 talk + 0 posters + 1 assignment = 33 Marks 4 CP is 5 logbook write-ups + 2 reports + 1 talk + 0 posters + 1 assignment = 65 Marks 6 CP is 8 logbook write-ups + 2 reports + 1 talk + 1 poster + 1 assignment = 93 Marks 8 CP is 10 logbook write-ups + 3 reports + 2 talks + 1 poster + 1 assignment = 125 Marks Note that double experiments count for 2 log book write-ups and 2 reports. Final marks will be incorporated in proportion to the number of lab credit points for the unit of study. For example, the lab component PHYS 3940 is 4 credit points out of 6. As a result, the lab mark is worth 2/3 of the total mark for the unit of study. If the total number of lab credit points comes from different units of study, then the lab mark will be divided in proportion to the weighting of the lab for the unit of study. For example, say 6 credit points is composed of 4 credit points from PHYS 3940 and 2 credit points from PHYS 3951. Consequently, 2/3 of the

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lab mark will go to PHYS 3940 and 1/3 to PHYS 3951. Guidelines for keeping logbooks and writing reports can be downloaded from the senior physics lab webpage (http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/current/3yr expt.shtml). Logbooks and reports will be assessed with reference to these guidelines with the following marking scheme.

2.2 Report Marking Scheme

6 or 7 out of 10 where most of the following criteria are met 8 10 out of 10 where all of the following criteria are met o Abstract given. o Document is well presented with an easy to follow structure, e.g. Title, Introduction, Method, Experimental set-up, Results and Discussion, Conclusions, References. o Clear indication of a deep knowledge of the topic. o Diagrams well presented with Figure numbers and clear and informative captions. o Graphs have clearly labelled axes. o Analysis correct, and error analysis is sensible. o The whole report is self-contained and does not require reference to the laboratory notes. o The writing is clear and easy to follow. A mark of 5 will be given if: o The document just reports on what was done without a clear understanding of the issues. o Most of the points above are not followed. A mark less than 5 will be given if: o The document is patchy, incomplete, disorganised, or hard to follow. o Includes extraneous and irrelevant information to impress or to hide the lack of understanding of the experiment.

2.3 Logbook Marking Criteria

Satisfactory (5 marks) where most of the following criteria are met. Satisfactory + bonus mark (6 marks) where all of the following criteria are met. o It is clear that the logbook was worked upon in the lab and not amended outside of lab hours. o A deep knowledge of the topic is evident. o Logbook easy to follow. o Logbook is a self-contained detailed record of the experiment so that anyone else can easily follow what was done. o Well organised with headings e.g. Date, page numbers, aim, headings for the different sections, results and analysis, discussion of the results, conclusions. o Practical details are included that could not otherwise be obtained without doing the experiment. o Sensible error analysis. o Correct numerical analysis of the results. o References (if any) are given. Less than 5 marks will be given if many of the above criteria are not met, half or less of the experiment has been completed, and/or a very poor and patchy record is kept

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e.g. some numbers given with an occasional statement.

Administrative Details

3.1 Dishonesty
Scientific reporting of results is based on trust. You could face immediate failure or severe penalties if your logbooks or reports include any of the following: Used the work (e.g. results, text, figures, etc) of others and claimed they were your own, or failed to acknowledge the origin. Made up the data. Forged a demonstrators signature.

Copied another persons logbook or report.

We will NOT accept assessments that are simply copied. Copying the work of another person without acknowledgment is plagiarism and contrary to University policies on Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism (http://sydney.edu.au/ab/policies/Academic_Honesty_Cwk.pdf). Academic Dishonesty means seeking to obtain or obtaining academic advantage (for example, in assessments) by dishonest or unfair means or knowingly assisting another student to do so. Academic Dishonesty includes, but is not limited to: (a) recycling that is, the resubmission for assessment of work that is the same, or substantially the same, as Work previously submitted for assessment in the same or in a different unit of study (except in the case of legitimate resubmission with the approval of the examiner for purposes of improvement); (b) fabrication of data; (c) the engagement of another person to complete or contribute to an assessment or examination in place of the student, whether for payment or otherwise or accepting such an engagement from another student; (d) communication, whether by speaking or some other means, to other candidates during an examination; (e) bringing into an examination forbidden material such as textbooks, notes, calculators or computers; (f) attempting to read other students work during an examination; (g) writing an examination or test paper, or consulting with another person about the examination or test, outside the confines of the examination room without permission; (h) copying from other students during examinations; (i) Inappropriate use of electronic devices to access information during examinations. Plagiarism means presenting another persons work as ones own work by presenting, copying or reproducing it without acknowledgement of the source. Plagiarism is a form of

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Academic Dishonesty, but is treated separately. Plagiarism includes presenting work for assessment, publication, or otherwise, that includes: (a) phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs or longer extracts from published or unpublished work (including from the Internet) without acknowledgement of the source; or (b) the work of another person, without acknowledgement of the source and presented in a way that exceeds the boundaries of legitimate cooperation.

3.2 Email
The University provides you with email access based on your Unikey username. We may use this email address to provide you with important information regarding this unit of study. We expect you to periodically read your University email account or to forward mail from it to an email account you do read (eg. a hotmail account).

3.3 Where to go for help

If you need help, you can as a first step, always check your unit eLearning pages for information, documents and links go to the Physics Student Services Office, Room 202 in the Physics building, or phone 9351 3037 ask your lecturer or tutor or ask the unit coordinator, Dr David Reilly (david.reilly@sydney.edu.au) ask other students consult one of the many services provided by the University, such as the Maths Learning Centre (http://sydney.edu.au/stuserv/maths_learning_centre/). Others include: Accommodation Service - http://sydney.edu.au/current_students/accommodation/ Careers Centre - http://sydney.edu.au/careers/ Child Care - http://sydney.edu.au/stuserv/child_care/ Counselling Service - http://sydney.edu.au/stuserv/counselling/ Disability Services - http://sydney.edu.au/stuserv/disability/ Financial Assistance Office http://sydney.edu.au/stuserv/financial_assistance_office/ Most University resources are probably best accessed through your MyUni pages (http://myuni.usyd.edu.au/).

3.4 Providing us with feedback

We welcome comments on all aspects of this unit. You should feel free to contact your lecturers, tutors or the Unit Coordinator Dr David Reilly, at any time. There is also a formal opportunity for feedback at the Staff-Student Liaison meeting, held one lunchtime towards the end of semester with staff and student representatives from the various units of study, including this one.

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3.5 Consideration of factors affecting your study

If your academic performance in a Science Faculty unit of study is adversely affected by illness or some other serious event, such as an accident, you should notify the Faculty of Science Student Information Office (level 2 of the Carslaw building) within 7 days after the period for which consideration is sought, by completing an Application for Special Consideration with accompanying documentation. This is especially important if you miss an examination. If you have another reason for the Science Faculty to take account of your circumstances religious commitments, legal commitments (e.g. Jury duty), elite sporting or cultural commitments (representing the University, state or country), or Australian Defence Force commitments (e.g. Army Reserve) - you should notify the Faculty of Science Student Information Office (level 2 of the Carslaw building) at least 7 days BEFORE the period for which consideration is sought, by completing an Application for Special Arrangements with accompanying documentation. These two forms of Consideration should cover most allowable circumstances. However, if you have another reason for requiring the School of Physics to take account of your circumstances, you should notify the School of Physics Student Services Office immediately. You should not submit an application of any type if there is no assessment associated with a missed class, or you have a reasonable opportunity to make up any work you missed.

If, for example, you miss an assignment, an application for appropriate Consideration is required to allow late submission, but we do expect the assignment to be submitted. Sometimes catching up may be impossible, in which case we will consider a pro-rata adjustment of your marks on the basis of an application for Consideration.

3.6 Special Consideration or Special Arrangements

To submit an application for Special Consideration or Special Arrangements you should: 1. Obtain the appropriate Application pack from the Student Information Office of the Faculty of Science, the Faculty website at http://sydney.edu.au/science/cstudent/ug/forms.shtml, or the Physics Student Services Office. Complete the forms and obtain whatever original documentary evidence is appropriate. Note especially that the Professional Practitioner's Certificate is essential for Special Consideration on grounds of serious illness - Medical Certificates will NOT be accepted. Take the original copy of all forms and documents, plus sufficient copies for each unit of study affected and yourself, to the Faculty of Science Student Information Office (NOT any other Faculty Office if you are seeking Consideration in a unit taught by Physics). They will sign/stamp both the original application form and the copies. In the case of Physics units, one copy of the documentation must then be submitted to the Physics Student Services Office. Keep one copy yourself. A formal decision on your application will be sent to your university email address within 14 days.

2. 3.

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Further details on University policy regarding Considerations can be found in policy documents entitled Assessment and Examination at the University Policy web site (http://sydney.edu.au/policy/). Students unsure what type of Consideration is appropriate, or unhappy with a Consideration decision, should consult the Physics Student Services Office. It is important to realise that the policies on Special Consideration apply throughout the University. However, actions in response to requests for Consideration may be specific to Physics and may be different in Departments responsible for your other units of study.

3.7 University Policies

The Special Consideration and Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism policies are the most obvious policies that you should be familiar with as a student. The University has various other policies you may need to know about at some time. These can be found at the Policy Online web site at http://fmweb01.ucc.usyd.edu.au/FMPro?-db=POL_Main.fp5&-format=/pol/pol_search.html&-l ay=www&-view. The staff in the Physics Student Services Office (Room 202 in the Physics building) will also be happy to help.

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