Electronics Experiments

Physics 3340/4430/5430 Spring Semester, 2006

All of the electronics experiments are designed to be completed in one week. The first two experiments are introductory. Experiments 3-5 cover operational amplifiers and would usually be done in sequence. Experiments 1-9 may be done in any order, but 7 and 8 require some background in op‑amps. Experiments 10 and 11 cover digital electronics, and should be done in sequence. Experiment 12 and 13 are “advanced” electronics experiments. They may be done by students that have already taken 3330. They currently have no associated manual.

1. Electronic Instruments. Introduction to oscilloscope, function generator, counter/timer, and digital multimeter. (1 week)

2. Filters and Waveform Shaping. Use of passive components (R, C, and L) to construct simple filters. Measurement of frequency response. (1 week)

3. Operational Amplifiers and Negative Feedback. Introduction to operational amplifiers. Non-inverting amplifier connection. Thermocouple amplifier. (1 week)

4. Virtual Ground Amplifiers. Inverting (virtual-ground) amplifiers. Integrator used as a magnetometer. (1 week)

5. Positive Feedback and Oscillators. Stability of feedback circuits and active LC oscillator. (1 week)

6. Transistor Amplifiers. Two‑stage amplifier made from NPN bipolar transistors. (1 week)

7. Photometer and Optical Link. Introduction to photodiodes and light emitting diodes. (1 week)

8. Measurement of Nuclear Particle Energies. Introduction to pulse electronics. (1 week)

9. Bridge Methods. Wheatstone and 4-wire bridge for measurement of very small resistances or very small resistance changes. Temperature coefficient of resistivity for copper. (1 week)

10. Digital Logic Elements. Introduction to digital electronics. (1 week)

11. Counters and Decoders. Digital circuits for binary counting and for binary‑decimal conversion. (1 week)

12. Phase-locked loop amplifier. For frequency synthesis, low-noise signal detection, and RF receivers. (1 week)

13. Servo-control system. Introduction to basic feedback and control principles. (1 week)