The department of physics is creating a new introductory level physics sequence of courses emphasizing laboratory experience. Building upon a new first-year course, which contains major units on 20th century physics, a sophomore level a course in Contemporary Physics focuses on recent important physics research results. The contemporary physics laboratory is designed to give the students hands-on experience with fundamental ideas needed to understand the significance of the recent results.This project provides instrumentation for experiments in gamma ray and x-ray spectroscopy to illustrate basic concepts in nuclear and atomic physics. Six laboratory stations are provided with a personal computer-based multichannel analyzer and a scintillation detector or a low- energy germanium detector and associated electronics. The personal computers are also being used in interfacing to other physics instrumentation in the Sophomore laboratory. The spectroscopy equipment is sufficiently sophisticated for use in advanced level student independent projects, including neutron activation analysis and x-ray fluorescence studies of trace elements.
