9452430 Croft This project will enrich our junior year modern physics lab by introducing state-of-the-art experimental and data analysis techniques drawn directly from research. The proposers are two nuclear experimentalists and a solid state x-ray spectroscopist who are committed to the goal of infusing this undergraduate lab with a taste of the excitement and the power of modern research methods, while maintaining the role of the lab as a teaching lab. The proposed experiments are drawn from the expertise of the principal investigators. Specifically one of the enrichments involves introducing truly modern particle/nuclear physics techniques into an experiment on the muon lifetime and the directional dependence of cosmic rays. The second involves a two part introduction to modern x-ray spectroscopic methods. Students will first explore nuclear and atomic energy level schemes by fluorescent radiation with a sophisticated high resolution x-ray detection system. The second part involves the introduction to x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) the data analysis and experimental methods. For the actual XAS measurements students will make a data collection trip to the Brookhaven National Synchrotron Light Source which should have a particularly high motivational impact on them.
