PHYS 401 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Experiments

These experiments introduce the time- and frequency-domain behavior of linear time-invariant systems. You will investigate transient responses, time constants, damping, resonance, and driven oscillations.
Real-world applications include modeling and predicting time and frequency-dependent responses in electrical, mechanical, and optical systems; damping across physical systems; resonance, filtering and stability analysis and signal conditioning.
With the skills you will learn in this lab, you will be prepared for a career in mechanical and electrical system design, control systems engineering and signal processing. You will be able to design analog and RF circuits, power electronics, sensor readout electronics and accelerator and detector electronics labs.

This lab explores a torsional oscillator. You will study transient motion, driven resonance, and multiple dissipation mechanisms, including viscous damping, Coulomb (dry) friction, and turbulent drag, highlighting analogies between mechanical and electrical systems.
Real-world applications include mechanical vibration analysis, damping and dissipation mechanisms, resonance control, analogies between mechanical and electrical systems.
With the skills you will learn in this lab, you will be prepared for a career in mechanical and aerospace engineering (vibration control), materials science labs, MEMS/NEMS research, seismology and geophysics labs.

This experiment introduces synchronous detection using a lock-in amplifier. You will measure the frequency response of linear circuits, extract weak signals from noise, and perform Fourier analysis to characterize filters and signal components.
Real-world applications include precision measurement of weak signals in noisy environments, frequency response characterization and Fourier analysis.
With the skills you will learn in this lab, you will be prepared for a career in condensed matter physics labs, optical spectroscopy, nanotechnology labs, biomedical instrumentation, quantum materials and quantum computing research.

This lab examines signal propagation in transmission lines where spatial effects and finite signal speeds become important. You will study pulse propagation, reflections, characteristic impedance, and impedance matching in coaxial cables, and use reflection measurements to characterize unknown loads.
Real-world applications include high-speed signal integrity, impedance matching, reflection minimization, pulse propagation and diagnostics.
With the skills you will learn in this lab, you will be prepared for a career in telecommunications, RF and microwave engineering, computer hardware design, particle accelerator facilities, radar and antenna research labs.

You will investigate electromagnetic resonance in conducting cavities by exciting standing microwave modes using a klystron source. The lab explores boundary value problems, field distributions, resonant frequencies, and quality factors of cavity modes.
Real-world applications include electromagnetic resonance, waveguide design, quality factor optimization and cavity-based sensing.
With the skills you will learn in this lab, you will be prepared for a career in accelerator physics (RF cavities), microwave and RF engineering, radar systems, wireless communication research and plasma physics labs.

This experiment characterizes the AC magnetic susceptibility of ferromagnetic materials. You will investigate hysteresis, temperature-dependent magnetic behavior, and phase transitions using precision AC measurement techniques.
Real-world applications include characterization of magnetic materials, phase transitions, and temperature-dependent material properties.
With the skills you will learn in this lab, you will be prepared for a career in materials science and solid-state physics labs, magnetic storage technology, spintronics research, and cryogenic and quantum materials laboratories.

In this lab, you will investigate non-linear electrical behavior in diode-based circuits.
Real-world applications include rectification, signal mixing, harmonic generation, and temperature-dependent device behavior.
With the skills you will learn in this lab, you will be prepared for a career in semiconductor device engineering, RF and microsave electronics, communications systems, and instrumentation labs.