"The life of a great scientist in his laboratory is not, as many may think, a peaceful idyll. More often, it is a bitter battle with things, with one's surroundings, and above all with oneself. A great discovery does not leap completely achieved from the brain of the scientist, as Minerva sprang, all panoplied, from the head of Jupiter; it is the fruit of accumulated preliminary work." -- Marie Curie, p.69, from "Pierre Curie", Dover Publication, 1963

"Experimental physicists confront nature through instruments, their daily work largely determined by the character of the apparatus." -- Peter Galison, p. 315, from "image & logic, a material culture of microphysics", Chicago U.P., 1997

Physics 480 Laboratory

Experimental Modern Physics (EMP)

Physics 480 Spring 2024

Primary Text: Experiments in Modern Physics, 2nd Ed., A.C. Melissinos and J. Napolitano, Academic Press, 2003.

Dr. Greg Severn

severn@sandiego.edu, X6845, ST282

[Office Hours] M 1:30-2:30 ish (I will be getting off a zoom at 1:30, praying for patience for all parties; T 2:30-4:30; Th 2:30-5:30 but in any case, let's figure out an appointment! Shoot me an email (in the usual way, please include PHYS480 in the subject line:), or use Canvas

Course Description

PHYS 480 Experimental Modern Physics Units: 4, Prerequisites: PHYS 330 (Quantum Mechanics), A laboratory-based course focused on the introduction to principles of research techniques with an emphasis on modern physics. Experiments illustrate physical phenomena pertaining to core areas of physics: quantum mechanics, atomic and nuclear physics, laser physics and plasma physics. Analog and digital data acquisition instrumentation, high-resolution optical and laser technology, and phase sensitive detection technology will be explored. This course is the required writing-intensive course for physics majors and fulfills the upper-division core writing requirement. Students write papers up to professional standards required of publication in physics research journals, learn to write mathematical prose, engage in the peer review process, and learn to code in $\begin{equation}\LaTeX \end{equation}$.

Guide to Course Policies, description of experiments, LaTeX stuff, and all that...

item description
experiment schedule (Sp24) tentative plan for semester
syllabus course intro. & class policies--First whack!
tutorial nature of the coursebut what the heck is a tutorial course?
theoretical minimum the quantum minimum needed for this course
Lab Notebooks notes on keeping lab notebooks
(PNMR) pnmr stuffreadings for Pulsed Nuclear Magnetic Resonance experiments
(OP) optical pumping readings for Optical Pumping in Rb experiments
(RO) rabi oscillation readings and for Rabi Oscillations in Rb experiments
(LS) laser spectroscopy readings and High resolution (``saturation absorption'')optical spectroscopy with tunable diode lasers (in Rb :)
(PW) plasma physics readings for Basics Plasma Physics experiments (not in Rb :( rather, Ar:))
DAQ stuff notes on MyDaq, LabView, etc.
LaTeX stuff software for typesetting mathematical prose
writing stuff information for authors (yes, you are an author)
lecture stuffnotes on various subjects related to our experiments, worksheet, etc.

Note: Subject to change Calendar for Sp24--note due dates for submissions!

Information for PHYS 480W authors

Journal Submissions (manuscripts and reviews) happen on BB ....

Each student is required, to begin with, to submit a complete manuscript. Is the student ready to begin writing? Here is a flow chart for writing just the introduction. The point of reducing one's approach to a kind of algorithm is to see it more objectively, and to improve upon one's method. Bear in mind that this is just for the introduction, and maybe this won't happen to you.

Immediately afterward, one submits a peer review, and later (once the reviews are in) a revised final manuscript along with a cover letter, or 'rebuttal letter'. Here's a flow chart of the overall process.

The asterisk means that the consult is scheduled at the initiative of the author. The TJE is often distracted with other reviews beside yours. This is wonderful and sad all at the same time, not to mention frustrating. So, send an email, and read the parable of the unjust journal editor, found in the Gospel of Luke 18:1-8, (SRV$^**$, oops, sorry, $\LaTeX\$error;$&*#$\clubsuit$... (SRV$^{**}$:). If first submission of the manuscript is not deemed complete, then the instructor puts his or her other hat on, that of the 'Tyrant Journal Editor', and according to the whims of the Tyrant Journal Editor, the manuscript will or will not go out for reviews. This is devoutly to be avoided. Journal Editors speak dictatorially, imperiously, and always finally. As they have always been a kind of tyrant, the instructor of the course will not break the mold. So, it is in your interest to PLAY BY THE ROOLS. (Tyrants have traditionally had trouble spelling).
A NEW ROOL: Each final submission is to be accompanied by a cover letter stating your name as the author of the work, and listing the colleagues in your research group (with whom you had significant discussions about the execution of the experiment). The most important part of the cover letter is this: a point-by-point response to each referee. A 'point-by-point response' to each reviewer will be almost impossible, however, without being very tedious. A suggestion: itemize what you think were significant ones. Don't include every little 'copy edit', but, as you are revising your texts this weekend, keep track of the significant changes and itemize them in a simple list. These items can be a simple and broad as, `reviewers asked for more background in the introduction: I added an indication of the connection between optical pumping and the LASER....', or, 'all the sentence pathologies noted by the reviewers were considers and the each of those sentences were reworked'. Note that such a cover letter indicates that you have considered how to make changes in your manuscript, and serves as a guide to the reader to those changes that you did in fact make. This is hugely important!
There is a letter environment in LATEX: 
\documentclass{letter}
 \begin{document}
  ... letters ...
 \end{document}
Each letter is a letter environment, whose argument is the name and address of the recipient. For example, you might have 
 \begin{letter}{Mr. J. Coffee  \\ Dept. of Physics
      \\ University of San Diego}
   

\opening{Dear Tyrant Journal Editor,}...
 \end{letter}
Give it a try!

But why (oh why) do we still need a lab notebook, a nice one, if we never turn it in for a score?

The tutorial nature of the course, I mean, why do this course tutorialy? Note: beginning Sp24, these will be folded into class times (somehow! work in progress....)

Tutorial teaching in PHYS 480W generally involves very small groups meeting with the tutor (generally the instructor of record) once or twice a week. A list of questions is prepared to which the students respond with written out solutions, delivered discursively as well as algebraically, often festooned with cartoon figures as aids for ones understanding of the solution to the prompt. At the tutorial session, the tutor and student(s) discuss the work with a view toward mutual critical evaluation and deep down understanding. Questions and comments fly. The student is expected to piece things together for him or herself, to become critical of written materials (everything from research papers to lab manuals) so that at length the student improves at producing them. Besides being terrifying, it's kinda fun. And a lot of work.

(PW) Plasma Physics & Plasma waves Readings

(LS) Laser Spectroscopy & Saturation Absorption Spectroscopy Readings

(OP) optical pumping readings

(PNMR) pulsed nmr readings

(RO) rabi oscillations readings

$L_{A}T_{E}X$ readings

Some of the class notes, worksheets, 'notes on...', etc...

These topics sort of span the space of necessary advanced NRQM (non-relativistic quantum mechanics) , plasma physics, and other stuff, including worksheets...the more complete repository of worksheets will be on the BB course site.