Physics 327 - Spring 2008

 

Modern Instrumentation

 

Instructor:

Prof. Sang-W. Cheong

Office:

Serin E258

e-mail

sangc@physics.rutgers.edu

Office Hour:

Tuesday 11:00-12:00 pm

 

TA:

Michael Keiderling

Office:

Serin E164

e-mail:

mkeider1@physics.rutgers.edu

Office Hour:

Monday 3:30-4:30 pm 

 

 

Meeting Times:

Lecture (all sections):

Wed 6:40–8:00 pm

SEC 208

Lab Sect. 3 (Keiderling)

Mon 6:40-9:30 pm

Serin 101

Lab Sect. 1 (Keiderling)

Tue 10:20 am-1:20 pm

Serin 101

Lab Sect. 2 (Cheong)

Tue 3:20-6:20 pm

Serin 101

 

Textbook: An Introduction to Modern Electronics , W. L. Faissler, Wiley.

 

Web Site for Course:

http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/ugrad/327

 

 

Tentative Course Schedule:

January 17, 2008

 

The reading assignments and problems will probably change as the term progresses. The later labs might change also.

 

Lab No.

Topic

Lecture/Labs

Read Chapters

Problems

1

DC Voltage divider

Jan 24/28-29

2-6 15-16

4.10-4.12 5.1 6.6

2

AC, Capacitance, Impedance

Jan 30/Feb 4-5

7-9 12 17 51 53

7.1 7.4 8.5 9.1 12.2

3

RLC Resonance

Feb 6/Feb 11-12

8-12

12.1, 11.2 12.6

4

Diode and Transistor

Feb 13/18-19

Feb 20/25-26

40-45

44.1-44.3

5

Operational Amplifier

(2 week lab)

Feb 27/Mar 3-4

Mar 5/Mar24-25

 

28-31

29.3-29.6

6

Difference and Instrumentation Amplifiers (2 week lab)

Mar 26/ Mar 31-April 1, April 7-8

 

29 31 32

31.3 31.4

7

Digital Basics – Timers, Counters, etc. (2 week lab)

April 2, 9/14-15, 21-22

19 21-24

21.1 23.4

8

DAC, ADC

April 16/28-29

34-36, 54

 

9

LabView, GPIB

(1-2 week lab)

April 23/May5-6

 

 

 

For plotting and analyzing data, the Origin program will be useful:

 

Course Goal:

The goal of this class is to familiarize you with a number of electronic components and their analysis so that you can understand and build circuits for use in physics experiments. You should normally perform laboratory experiments with a partner. You must share all phases of the experimental work, so both understand each entire experiment. Each of you should manipulate instruments, build circuits, etc., during each lab. You should each keep your own laboratory notes and notebook. For each laboratory experiment, you must submit a brief, neat, and complete laboratory report,

 

Lab Preparation:

Lab instructions will be handed out during the lecture before the lab, not during the lab.  If you want your own copy of the instructions, you therefore have to attend the lecture.  You are expected to read and understand these instructions before coming to the lab.   In addition, you are expected to read and understand the relevant chapters in your textbook prior to the lab (see lab schedule for detailed reading assignments).  Failure to prepare for the lab will affect your grade.

 

Lab Reports: Guidelines for writing lab reports

 

Lab reports are to be prepared individually and handed in during the next lab session.  The report must be typed, and graphs generated by the Origin program.  Drawings and circuit diagrams can be neatly drawn by hand.  Late reports will be accepted up to one week after the due date, but will be penalized by 30 %.  Copied lab reports will not be accepted.  Do not write a “report” if you have not actually done the lab: it will not be accepted.  Write the report so the reader can understand what you did, what you measured, and what theory predicted, etc.  Your report should have the following structure:

 

Introduction: Clearly state the objective(s), and a short explanation of the theoretically background, if appropriate.

 

Experimental Method: Brief description of the equipment used and the experimental procedures followed.  Include an accurate neatly-drawn circuit diagram.  Do not include your results in this section.

 

Results and discussion: Show the data obtained in numbered tables and figures.  All numbers have to be given with the correct unites.  The figures must have appropriate axis labels with units.  If drawings of observed effects/waveforms clarify your data description, include them.  Analyze the data, including pertinent equations, calculated numbers, discussion of what observations and measurements mean.  Discuss how well experiment agrees with theory and what was expected.  Do not give more significant figures than warranted by the accuracy of your numbers.  Include an error analysis where appropriate.

 

Conclusions:  Discuss if the goals set forth were met. Often, the obtained data are somewhat different from what was expected.  In this case, you should try to understand why, and state and justify your conclusion about why.

 

Quizzes:

Short quizzes will be given occasionally during the lecture.  They will not be announced.  Topics to be quizzed are lecture contents and reading assignments.

 

 

Grading:

The course grade will be primarily based upon the lab report (about 70 %), with remainder determined by lab preparation and participation, quiz scores, and lecture attendance.

 

Students with Disabilities:

If you have a disability, you are urged to speak to Prof. Cheong early in the semester to make the necessary arrangements to support a successful learning experience. Also, you must arrange for Prof. Cheong to receive a letter from your College's Disability Concerns Coordinator verifying that you have a disability.  More information can be found at

http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/ugrad/disabilities.html

 

A Brief Guide to Debugging :

Generally we are going to set up circuits with wires and components arranged on a “bread board” or prototype board. The components range from simple passive resistors to active chips with tens of inputs and outputs. When you set up a circuit the first time, it often does not work as you think it should. Then you need to debug it, i.e., figure out why the circuit is behaving as it is instead of as it should.  

 

To make the debugging less painful:

·  Arrange the circuit neatly on the prototyping board so that you can trace where wires go and hook up the circuit correctly.

 

·  Understand the circuit: Figure out before the lab what you should see when you make the stated measurements.

 

·  Understand your equipment: Common examples of mistakes include measuring the wrong voltage with an oscilloscope, because the input was AC-coupled instead of DC-coupled, or incorrectly using a DVM to measure current.

 

·  Are all the wires connected? Check voltage levels and signal shapes at various points and determine if they are as they should be.

 

·  Is the individual component what you think it is, resistor, capacitor, inductor, op amp, etc? You can measure the resistance of a resistor. For a complicated chip, first check that all inputs are hooked up correctly. If the chip pops, the circuit is not hooked up correctly, and you should figure out why rather than popping more.  If you have a few bad (non-popping) chips in a row, it is probable that the circuit is hooked up incorrectly.

 

·  If the circuit is complicated, build parts of it first and test each part separately.