PHYC 307L: Junior Laboratory
Instructor
Prof. F. Elohim Becerra
Email: fbecerra@unm.edu
Office: PAIS 2514
Phone: 505 277-2673
Teaching Assistant
Ghazaleh Ansari
Email: gansari@unm.edu
Office: PAIS B11XX
Description of the class and objectives
The Junior Lab 307L is a laboratory course with experiments in modern physics for advanced undergraduate students. Students will obtain expertise in laboratory equipment, data analysis, error analysis and in writing formal reports in a scientific format. The course consists of one lecture per week and one 3-hour lab session per week. Students will perform experiments for the measurement of fundamental constants and experiments related to Modern Physics. The lectures will be focused on statistical tools and techniques for error analysis and data reduction for interpretation of the experimental results.
Prerequisites: Calculus, Basic elements of statistics; Computational tools, Basic electronics and optics. (PHYS 2415 required)
Lectures: Monday, 13:00-13:50, Room PAIS 1140
Lectures will cover topics related to elements of statistics and error analysis for the proper treatment of the experimental data. See Topics for details.
Lab Sessions: Monday, 14:00-16:50, Room PAIS 1405.
You must complete 6 experiments from the list below (one every two weeks), plus the oscilloscope experiment (one week), which is mandatory. For the experiments, you will use guides from the Junior Lab manual from Prof. Michael Gold, but some experiments have been updated. The updated guides for the experiments to be followed are:
- RC circuits and the Oscilloscope (First week)
- Choose 4 experiments from the 7 below:
- Choose 2 experiments from the 3 below:
Each experiment will be scheduled for two weeks. You need to schedule the experiments in advance to ensure availability. The instructor and the TA will manage the calendar.
* For each experiment, you will need to investigate/study and understand the physics behind the experiment, the technical aspects of the setup and their functionality, how the experiment and each part of the setup works, and realize proper data and error analysis to obtain the result. By design, the lab guides are brief, and students are expected to investigate more in depth the physics, theory, and technical aspects of the experiments.
Textbook
The lectures will be based on several books (mainly based on Bevington & Robinson, and Melissinos Ch 10). Below are some very good references for statistics and modern physics.- Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences- Phillip R. Bevington and D. Keith Robinson (McGraw Hill, Inc., 2003, ISBN 0-07-247227-8).
- An Introduction to Error Analysis: The Study of Uncertainties in Physical Measurement - John R. Taylor (University Science Books, 1997, ISBN 0-935702-75-X).
- Building Scientific Apparatus - J. H. Moore, C. C. Davis, and M. A. Coplan (Cambridge University Press, Fourth Edition, 2009, ISBN 978-0-521-87858-6).
Additional resources
- Experiments in Modern Physics (Academic Press, 2nd Edition): Adrian C. Melissinos, Jim Napolitano.
- Fundamentals of Photonics 2nd Edition: E. A. Saleh, Malvin Carl Teich.
Office hours. You may arrange a meeting with the instructor via email.
TA office hours: You may also arrange a meeting with the TA via email.
Grading
- Homework 10%
- Lab Notebook 40%
- Formal Reports: 40% (2 in total)
- Oral presentation: 10%
Homework: There will be regular assignments related to basic statistics, error analysis, curve fitting and basic programming. The assignments will be given throughout the semester, about one per week, and will be posted in the Tentative Schedule. Assignments are due at the beginning of the class. Homework is individual; you may not copy another student' work.
Lab Notebook: You will keep a lab notebook where you will describe the experimental procedure and perform the data and error analysis. The guidelines are here: Lab notebook Guidelines.
Formal Reports: You will write two formal reports from two experiments that you performed in the laboratory. The guidelines are here: Formal Report Guidelines.
Lab reports should be typed and submitted as a word or PDF document by email with the subject “Lab Report #” followed by the number of the lab report, for example “Lab Report #1". The file name should be your last name followed by the name of the experiment. Lab reports are individual (i.e. each person needs to submit their own).
Draft of Lab report #1 will be reviewed and returned to you to make revisions.
Published physics papers such as in Physical Review Letters, Optics Letters, etc. provide a good guide for writing your lab report. Any research article is good example. One example from a class report is here.
IMPORTANT : Use your own words. Do not copy from your classmates or any other resource, including lab guides. This is considered Academic Dishonestiy. Instead, read, understand and write with your own words. Scientific papers are the product of your understanding and your own work, and not of other people's work.
Presentation: Each student will give a presentation at the end of the semester about an experiment (12 minutes+ 3 for questions). It should duscuss applications of the subject studied to science and/or technology. Some tips; more tips.
Due Dates
| Date | Description |
| 03/02 (M) 03/04 (W) | Lab notebook with Experiments 1 & 2 Draft of 1st Formal Report (via email 5pm) |
| 03/23 (M) | 1st Formal Report (via email 5pm) |
| 04/06 (M) | Lab notebook with Experiments 3 & 4 |
| 05/04 (M) | Lab notebook with Experiments 5 & 6 2rd Formal Report (via email 5pm) |
The lab notebooks and homeworks must be submitted in class (lecture time) on the day they are due.
Late work policy:
Late work assignments will be accepted but with a 15% penalty for each day past the deadline. So any work handed-in within 24 hrs of the deadline will carry a 15% penalty, one handed-in within 48 hrs will carry a 30% penalty, and so on.
Lecture Topics
Tentative list of topics that will be covered. The calendar is in the Tentative Schedule.
- Introduction:- Overview
- Errors and parameter estimation: (Bevington Ch1&Ch2)- General properties; Estimation of a parameter; Mean and Variance
- Statistical Distributions (Bevington Ch2, Melissinos Ch10.1-2, Taylor Ch5,Ch10&Ch11)- Basic distributions; Binomial; Poisson; Gaussian
- Propagation of errors (Bevington Ch3;, Taylor Ch3; wiki)- Error propagation; Correlated variables; Errors of basic operations
- Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) (Bevington Ch3, Melissinos Ch10.3-4; wiki)- Maximum Likelihood; Mean and variance of a distribution; Standard deviation of the mean; Weighted average
- Maximum Likelihood Estimation (Bevington Ch6, Melissinos Ch10.3-4)- Fit to a straight line; Estimated parameter; Standard deviation of estimated parameters
- Nonlinear Fitting (Bevington Ch8)- MLE application to a nonlinear function with multiple parameters
- Goodness of a fit (Bevington Ch3)- Test of a fit; Chi square; t-student distribution
- Mote Carlo Simulation (Bevington Ch5)- Generation of random data; treatment of errors and fits
- Advanced topics (Taylor Ch9)- Bias of an estimator; Error matrix and correlated systems
- Modern Optics- If time allows, we will discuss some special topics such as lasers, coherence, nonlinear optics and quantum optics.
Additional resources
- Class overview: Lecture 1
- Fit straight line with unequal errors
- Statistical Treatment of Data
- Advice for physics speaker
Program examples
Tentative Schedule
| Lectures | Date | Subject | Reading | Homework | HW Due | Notes |
| 01/19 (M) | MLK (no class) | |||||
| L1 | 01/26 (M) | Overview; Measurements and Uncertainties | Bevington CH1-2 | HW1 | (M) Feb 02 | |
| L2 | 02/02 (M) | Probability distributions | Bevington CH1-2 | |||
| L3 | 02/09 (M) | Propagation of Errors | Bevington CH3 | |||
| L4 | 02/16 (M) | Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) | Bevington CH4 | |||
| L5 | 02/23 (M) | Fit to a straight line with MLE (I). | Bevington CH6 | |||
| L6 | 03/02 (M) | Weighted average. Standard error of the mean. | Melissinos CH10 | |||
| L7 | 03/09 (M) | MLE error estimation. Example, fit to a straight line | Melissinos CH10 Bevington CH6 | |||
| 03/16 (M) | Spring Break | |||||
| L8 | 03/23 (M) | Fit to nonlinear functions: Linearization | Bevington CH7-8 | |||
| L9 | 03/30 (M) | Fit to nonlinear functions | Bevington CH8 & 11 | |||
| L10 | 04/06 (M) | Lab Tours | ||||
| L11 | 04/13 (M) | Student Presentations | ||||
| L12 | 04/20 (M) | Student Presentations | ||||
| L13 | 04/27 (M) | Student Presentations | ||||
| L14 | 05/04 (M) | Student Presentations | ||||
| L15 | 05/11 (M) | Finals Week |
Additional Information
Accommodations: UNM is committed to providing equitable access to learning opportunities for students with documented disabilities. Objective: to facilitate an inclusive classroom setting, in which students have full access and opportunity to participate. To engage in a confidential conversation about the process for requesting reasonable accommodations for this class and/or program, please contact Accessibility Resource Center at arcsrvs@unm.edu or 505-277-3506.
UAP 2720 and 2740. Our classroom and university should foster mutual respect, kindness, and support. If you have concerns about discrimination, harassment, or violence, please seek support and report incidents. Find confidential services at LoboRESPECT Advocacy Center, the Women’s Resource Center, and the LGBTQ Resource Center. UNM prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex (including gender, sex stereotyping, gender expression, and gender identity). All instructors are “responsible employees” who must communicate reports of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct and sexual violence to Compliance, Ethics and Equal Opportunity. For more information, please see UAP 2720 and UAP 2740.
Respectful Conduct Expectations: I am committed to building with you a positive classroom environment in which everyone can learn. I reserve the right to intervene and enforce standards of respectful behavior when classroom conduct is inconsistent with University expectations [and/or classroom community agreements]. Interventions and enforcement may include but are not limited to required meetings to discuss classroom expectations, written notification of expectations, and/or removal from a class meeting. Removal from a class meeting will result in an unexcused absence. 2 or more unexcused absences may result in permanent removal and a drop from the course (see attendance policy). The University of New Mexico ensures freedom of academic inquiry, free expression and open debate, and a respectful campus through adherence to the following policies: D75: Classroom Conduct, Student Code of Conduct, University Policy 2240 – Respectful Campus, University Policy 2210 – Campus Violence.
Academic honesty
Responsible Learning and Academic Honesty: Cheating and plagiarism (academic dishonesty) are often driven by lack of time, desperation, or lack of knowledge about how to identify a source. Communicate with me and ask for help rather than risking your academic career by committing academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty involves claiming that work created by another source is your own original work. It is a Student Code of Conduct violation that can lead to a disciplinary procedure. When you use a resource in work submitted for this class, document how you used it and distinguish clearly between your original work and the material taken from the resource.
