PHYS 576 D: Selected Topics in Experimental Physics

Lectures

T-Th 6:30-8:20

NPL conference room

uw.edu/maps/?npv

This is a class on Radiation: Sources, Detection, and Safety. Students will learn some basic concepts on nuclear physics; the processes that can produce radioactivity and to recognize dangerous versus safe environments; practical experience with high-resolution photon detectors; the basics of particle accelerators and practical experience with our own tadem accelerator; the basics of Rutherford scattering and how it can be used to identify minute amounts of contaminants; the basics of the functioning of nuclear reactors; and some concepts on nuclear astrophysics.
I hope you find this course stimulating and interesting.

I will expect you to read the material that will be covered in a class ahead of time. I expect students to ask on average one question per class. Students will ask the question during lecture and will then send an electronic note to the instructor to register the question. The questions will be posted by the instructor anonymously but so that others may have a reminder of what issues were considered.

 

Lectures will take place in room 178 at the North Physics Laboratory (Look it up on campus maps). Most of the lectures will occur on Tuesdays at 6:30PM each week. However, on many occasions we will also meet on Thursdays to make sure we cover the material or get lab practice.

date	lecture	readings	instructor	Lab
Sep. 26th	The atomic nucleus. Basic nuclear physics. Nuclear energy. Orders of magnitudes.	Week 1	Garcia	None
Oct. 1st	Attenuation of photon radiation. Solid state detectors. Ge and Si.	Week 2	Garcia	Lab: Ge detectors; Deciphering the gamma mystery spectrum. Group A: Tuesday; Group B: Thursday.
Oct. 8th	Ranges of ions and electrons. Radioactivity and radiation damage and health risks: Alpha, beta, gamma activity and neutrons.	Week 3	Garcia/Will	Lab: radiation detectors; photons, electrons, alpha, neutrons. Altogether on Tuesday.
Oct. 15th	Tuesday: Counting statistics. Thursday: CENPA tour.	Week 4	Garcia	CENPA tour: altogether on Thursday.
Oct. 22nd	Functioning of accelerators. Tuning beam through our own accelerator.	Week 5	Smith/Garcia	Accelerator I. Both, group A and B, on Thursday.
Oct. 29th	Rutherford scattering. Deciphering the mystery spectrum and the contents of the mystery foil.	Week 6	Garcia/Smith/Dodson	Lab group A: Rutherford scattering, Thursday 6:30-9:00PM
Nov. 5th	Fission and fusion. The functionning of reactors. Rutherford scattering lab session for group B. Deadline for paper subject decision	Week 7	Garcia/Dodson	Lab group B: Rutherford scattering, Thursday 6:30-9:00PM.
Nov. 12th	Nuclear resonances. Nuclear astrophysics: nucleosythesis in stars.	Week 8
Nov. 19th	Basics of Shell Model. Approximate predictions using simple models. Using quantum numbers and predicting decay rates. Nuclear resonances lab, group B. Boeing visit: postponed. Map	Week 9	Garcia/Smith	Lab group B: (p,g) nuclear resonance. Thursday 6:30-9:00PM.
Nov. 26th	Tuesday: Boeing visit; meet Tuesday at 6:45PM at Boeing.Map?	Week 10	Garcia	Tuesday: Boeing visit; meet Tuesday at 6:45PM at Boeing.Map? Thanksgiving holiday: Nov.28-29.
Dec. 3rd	Searching for new  physics with 6He. Lecture on Thursday, Dec. 5th.	Week 11	Garcia	Lab group A: (p,g) nuclear resonance. Tuesday 6:30-9:00PM.
	Deadline for paper: Dec. 6th