This project supports the use of a versatile, laser-based spectroscopy system in the undergraduate physical chemistry laboratory. The use of lasers in graduate, postdoctoral, and professional research makes it imperative that students be proficient in this area. The department has recently obtained a small Helium-Neon (HeNe) laser in order to carry out introductory laser experiments in the undergraduate laboratory. However, to ensure that this is not the only level of instruction that any of the students receive with lasers, this project outfits the undergraduate physical chemistry laboratory with the necessary equipment to teach more advanced laser-based experimentation. The acquisition of the Nitrogen-laser-pumped dye laser (N2-dye) system allows for the introduction of an integrated laser-based curriculum into this undergraduate laboratory course and of related techniques for the Instrumental Analysis and Biochemistry laboratories. The laser-based experiments complement and enhance experiments already performed in these courses. The laser system is being used for Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy and has the potential to be used for time-resolved experiments in the future. An original experiment utilizing surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is currently being developed and introduced into the laboratory curriculum. The impact of the new experiments can be evaluated by comparing student course questionnaires with those of past semesters when no laser-based experiments were used and when many students explicitly requested more up-to-date equipment. Original experiments for the undergraduate physical chemistry laboratory can be submitted to the Journal of Chemical Education and discussed at meetings of the American Chemical Society(ACS). The SERS experiment currently under development may be presented at the ACS Biennial Conference of Chemical Education in Clemson, South Carolina, in August 1996. A lab manual is being compiled with the new experiments and may be made available over the Internet as well as in printed form.
