Note: The Senior Lab pages below, experimental results, and photos were created by physics students at New Mexico Tech (with slight meddling by the instructor, K. Minschwaner).

Senior lab is an upper level physics laboratory course intended to provide students with experience in taking and analyzing experimental measurements. Course work emphasizes problem solving in the lab, and error assessment of measurements.

Lectures are held twice weekly, during which background theory, operation procedures, and error analysis is discussed. Lab work is to be completed outside of class.

Students are required to complete four experiments and write a publication quality abstract for each. In addition, a complete report must accompany one of the abstracts. Grading is based on experiment abstracts and reports, as well as occasional homework problems and a final exam.


[SR Lab Pic]
Senior Physics Lab, Workman 195, NMIMT (photo by M. Combs)

For Spring 2012 students: Below is a partial list of laboratory handouts

Hydrogen Spectrum and H-D Isotope Shift


H-alpha Isotope Shift Sodium D Line Splitting
Scanning Tunneling Microscope IRThermography
Hall Effect Franck-Hertz
Alpha Particles Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Other tidbits of interest concerning Senior Lab:

James Little's Church of Senior Lab
Grant Coble's cool Senior Lab Logo
Another one of James' Gems: Why you should take this class.

This page was prepared by Michael Combs (Fall '97), modified by K.M.

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