Joseph E. Wiest DUE 9551935 WV Wesleyan College FY1995 $ 17,655 Buckhannon, WV 26201 ILI - Instrumentation Project: Physics Title: Improving the Senior Research Experience in Physics at West Virginia Wesleyan College: Laser/Atomic Spectroscopy To support its senior research requirement for physics majors, newly expanded from a one semester course to a full year, Wesleyan will purchase research-grade equipment in laser/atomic spectroscopy. The college will purchase an external grating tunable diode laser, a wavemeter, a lock-in amplifier, and an optical chopper with controller. This equipment will supplement instrumentation which is of teaching but not research grade for undergraduates. Instruments were selected to provide flexibility in the choice of research topics for seniors over the next five years. The instrumentation will permit senior students to do experimental studies in Doppler-free saturated absorption spectroscopy, optogalvanic spectroscopy, wave mixing, the Zeemann Effect, and frequency doubling. Students will be able to collect accurate data with very high resolution, to do mathematical calculations with the data, and to compare results with physical models. Project objectives are to teach students to use current research equipment, to teach current methods of research, and to teach proper methods of data analysis. The project will demonstrate a new research technique for advanced undergraduate students: that the external grating tunable diode laser and associated equipment enable research-grade studies in atomic physics.
