Departmental Facilities and Services

The Physics Department provides a number of facilities and services for use by faculty, staff, and students within the Department. Many facilities are also available for use by other University-affilliated students and staff.

The Mechanical Section (Machine Shop, Cryogenics and, Electronics) provides hardware support, instrumentation crafting, and other technical services and supplies for labs and researchers as well as for students. The Lecture Demonstrations office maintains and provides support for a wide variety of equipments for in-class demonstrations; equipment and demos can be scheduled online through their site. The Laboratory Supplies office, located in RLM 8.306 (471-5352), provides supplies for laboratory classes, as well as providing more general office supplies for faculty and administrators within the Department. The Physics Microcomputer Lab (PMCL), located on the 7th floor in RLM, is a computing lab available for general student use, including printing and image scanning equipment. The Physics Computer Group provides email and web accounts to Department members, as well as providing technical support for computers, printers, and related equipment. The Physics, Math, and Astronomy Library is located on the 4th (ground) floor of RLM, and contains a wealth of books and periodicals, managed by a helpful and knowledgable staff.

Facilities for Graduate Work

Modern facilities for graduate study and research include a large-scale cryogenic laboratory; synthesis and strong magnetic field equipment; nuclear magnetic and electron paramagnetic resonance laboratories; extensive facilities for tunneling and force microscopy and nanostructure characterization, SQUID magnetometry, and electron spectroscopy; well-equipped laboratories in optical spectroscopy, quantum optics, femtosecond spectroscopy and diagnostics, electron-atom and surface scattering and high-intensity laser science; and facilities for turbulent flow and nonlinear dynamics experiments.

In addition, we use serveral external facilities for graduate work. Plasma physics experiments are conducted at the major national tokamaks in Boston and San Diego. Experiments in high-energy heavy ion nuclear and particle physics are conducted at large accelerator facilities such as Brookhaven National Laboratory (New York), Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Illinois), and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

Further information on facilities related to a specific field of interest can be found by visiting the appropriate research group section.