The modern physics labs are intended to provide a bridge between the introductory labs, which are mostly "canned" in the sense that there is a fixed sequence of activities to perform and a fairly rigid analysis to carry out, and the kind of "open ended" research that you would do in a real experiment, where you don't really know what will happen or how you should interpret the results. In addition, the physics itself is more complicated than in the intro labs. As a result, most of the experiments in this course require significantly more time for data analysis and uncertainty assessment than for data taking itself.

It is expected that students will complete an experiment and turn in their lab notebook and a detailed write-up every two weeks. There will be brief lectures at the start of the first class of most weeks. By the third class of each two-week block the instructor will review students' progress to verify that they are on track to complete their experiment on time. Toward the end of the quarter, students will give brief presentations on a self-directed "extension" of one of the experiments while observing students will complete questionnaires on the presentations.

Recommended Books:

1.      Experiments in Modern Physics by H.Mark and H.T. Olsono. (McGraw-Hill).

2.      Experiments in Modern Physics by A.C. Melissinos. (Academic).

Assessment Criteria:

Sessional:                    20 marks (Assignment, quiz, etc)

Mid Term exam:           30 marks

Final exam:                  50 marks

Time of class:

MSc 1st Regular  =>      Thursday (12:00 - 01:00) & (01:00-02:00), Friday (12:00 - 01:00)