The project's focus is the setup of a computer-controlled system for performing electrical and optical measurements on solar cells and thin films. The system is being used for student research and for performing three new experiments to be included in the upper-level, intermediate, and advanced laboratory courses, required for all physics majors. Previously, these courses have suffered from a lack of modern instruments and computer-controlled experiments, too little emphasis on applications relevant to students who do not plan further study in physics, and a lack of optical experiments. The new experiments are designed to introduce students to the use of computers for instrument control and data acquisition and to measurement techniques, instrumentation, and physical phenomena to which they are not currently exposed in these courses. The three experiments involve the measurement and analysis of solar cell current-voltage characteristics under simulated solar illumination; solar cell quantum efficiency as a function of wavelength; and optical properties of thin films. The lab materials developed for this project will be made available to others over the Internet and descriptions of the experiments will be submitted for publication in a professional journal.
