Home Page for Physics 3330

Physics 3330: Electronics for the Physical Sciences

Instructors: Heather Lewandowski, Kevin Stenson, James Thompson.

The silicon photodiode is often used to measure small motions. In atomic force microscopes (AFMs) a small flexible cantilever with a sharp tip is scanned over a surface. A laser beam is reflected off the back of the cantilever onto a segmented photodiode. By comparing the currents in the photodiode segments, small deflections of the cantilever can be detected. This signal is used to construct an image of the surface topography. The method is so sensitive that often individual atoms on the surface can be resolved.

Week 9-10 Highlights:

Labs 8 and 9 cover JFET amplifiers, noise and an intorduction to digital circuits. Project proposals are due Nov 3rd and Nov 5th in your laboratory section, so now would be a good time to start thinking about what you are going to do. Click on the link "Projects" for more information and lists of past projects. You can also Google something that sounds like fun and see what you come up with. Then, bounce your ideas off your instructor. You must discuss your final project with your section instructor before your proposal will be accepted.

The Midterm will be on Thursday the 22nd of October during the normal lecture hour (1-1:50) in the normal lecture room (G125).

There will be a review session from 6-7pm on Wednesday, 10/21 in room G2B60.

Here's a list of the overall topics:
    transfer functions
    impedance of L and C
    combining impendances
    voltage dividers
    ac circuit calculations
    Thevenin equivalents
    Wheatstone bridge
    Bode plots
    RC and LCR filters
    op-amps:
        golden rules
        gain equations
        gain-bandwidth product
        Zin
        Zout
        oscillators
    bipolar transistors:
        emitter follower
        biasing
        common emitter amp.
        intrinsic RE
        2-stage amp.