PHYS 493. Independent Research

Laboratory or research work on a research project that demonstrates the student's ability to apply his or her knowledge of physics in practical research. A 30-minute talk on the project required. Topics can be indentified by student and instructor together.

Previous topics

  • Design, construction, and test of Laser Induce Fluorescence (LIF) detectors.
  • Design, construction, and test of a high-voltage fast pulser.
  • Implementation of an optical fiber switch for multiplex wavelength measurements.
  • Design and construction of a 4-channel Ultrastable optical cavity.
  • Home-built External Cavity Diode Laser (ECDL).
  • Design, construction, and test of a scanning Fabry-Perot Interferometer.
  • Design, construction, and test of fast photodiodes and quadrant photodiodes.
  • Measurement of thermal expansioin coefficients of PZTs using optical interferometers.
  • Home-built automatic M^2 measurement platform.
  • Measurements of microwave horn-to-horn coupling efficiency.
  • Analysis of HfF+ velocity modulation spectra toward extracting Lambda-doubling constants.
  • Lifetime calculations of Rydberg states of Hydrogen atoms.