PHYS 334 Lab Wiki Home (Spring 2025)

Getting started...


Here are the nuts & bolts for how the course will run.

  • Course calendar (Spring 2025): 2025_phys_334_schedule.pdf.
  • In-lab activities run W/Th/F from 1:30-5:30 pm in KPTC 005/009.
  • Presentations are held in (ROOM TBD) starting at 1:30 pm.
  • All report deadlines are by 11:59 pm on the listed due date.
  • The most important information about how the course runs is located here: Course Operations and Guidelines.

Experiment Assignments


Gamma Cross Sections Experiment

Everyone will do the Gamma Cross Sections experiment as a warm-up during Week 1. Students will work individually in the lab.

  • Days in lab: Thursday, March 27 and Friday, March 28
  • Report: due Friday, April 4 @ 11:59 pm.

Projects

Students will work in pairs on two larger projects for the rest of the quarter.

  • Project 1 will run Wednesday through Friday in Weeks 2-4
    • Project 1 Presentations: Wednesday, April 23 @ 1:30 pm
    • Project 2 Reports: Friday, April 25 @ 11:59 pm
  • Project 2 will run Wednesday through Friday in Weeks 6-8
    • Project 2 Presentations: Wednesday, May 21 @ 1:30 pm
    • Project 2 Report: Friday, May 23 @ 11:59 pm

Project Assignments

Essential Course Reading


The pages below are considered essential reading for students in PHYS 334. You should look over and understand everything in these pages on Day 1 of the course. Refer to them whenever you have any questions about how the course operates or what is expected for your work.

Tutorials


Proper data analysis is a must for this course. You are free to use whatever software you are comfortable with, but the resources below provide some specific information for those who are just starting out or who need a refresher. Below are several information pages and full tutorials:

Also, you may find it useful to typeset your reports professionally in LaTeX. If you aren't familiar with LaTeX, we link below to an assignment used in PHYS 211 that is used to get students up and running very quickly.

Supplemental Material


We have developed many pages of supplemental material that can serve as references as you work in the lab or write your reports.

 A floorplan of the basement lab space

Feedback


The instructional laboratory staff is always interested in feedback. Let us know if you find typos or mistakes, or let us know if you have comments about what you like or don't like about the lab experience.

Please use our Online Feedback Form to leave anonymous (or non-anonymous) comments.