Introduction to Electronic Techniques for Physics Research Instrumentation

Catalog description

Physics 104 is an introduction to electronic techniques commonly applied for instrumentation and measurement. The class is structured around a sequence of laboratory exercises which are paired with interactive lectures where questions are encouraged. The class is for Physics and Engineering Physics majors but open to all students with science or engineering interests in analog circuits, instrumentation and signal processing. The first part of the course is focused on hands-on exercises that build skills needed for measurements, including input/output impedance concepts, filters, amplifiers, sensors, and fundamentals of noise in physical systems. The course starts from simple DC and AC circuits, including filters, rectifiers, simple power supplies, common sensors and lab instruments. The exercises are built with applications of diodes and fundamental principles of operational amplifiers and feedback for both linear and non-linear applications. The central aspects of frequency domain and time domain formalism are used to understand the circuit responses from the lab. The physics of circuit noise and practical aspects of signal interference are used to understand fundamental limits of measurements, for example systems. Principles of noise reduction via synchronous detection (lock-in amplification) are developed with lab exercises. The course ends with a lock-in amplifier contest where each lab section builds and measures the performance of a photodiode receiver and synchronous demodulator of their own design. The emphasis of the course is on the laboratory. The course focuses on practical techniques and insight from the lab exercises, with a goal to prepare undergraduates for laboratory research. No formal electronics experience is required beyond exposure to concepts from introductory Physics or Engineering courses with calculus (Ohm's law, charge conservation, physics…