• The capstone project of the course focuses on scienific communications (oral presentations, posters, scientific papers). This year, the class has voted for converting one of the completed lab reports into a scientific paper submission. Note that in addition to the content, the style and formatting will be evaluated as part of the grading of the submission. The students are advised to consult and to follow closely the "Instructions to Authors" of a Canadian Journal of Physics or of Physical Review and to ensure that the formatting requirements are strictly adhered to.

  A sample "paper" is made available as a .zip file; starting a new project by uploading this .zip file to overleaf would be a good start. Use Brock Physics Reports as the name of a fictitious journal you are submitting your paper to, and specify the volume and pages information as "xx".

• The common section of this class will be held Thursdays, 10:00-13:00 in MCH300, starting January 8, 2026. This is when an introduction to the next week's experiments will take place. The experiments will be performed by students in groups of two, during the regular time slots arranged individually (see Schedule below). Please, bring your full schedule for the term to the first lecture on Friday, January 8, so that the time slots can be established.
• Important: before working in the lab (i.e. before January 15, 2026 at the latest) all students must complete several mandatory safety training sessions. All of the safety courses for students are on Brightspace on the tab "Brock Student Health and Safety Training". For direct access, use this link.
  • For this course, you must complete the Radiation Safety and X-ray Safety courses, and score a minimum of 80% in each.
  • You must also complete at least the WHMIS (online) training. Once complete, please send a screenshot of your certificate to Ivana Metcalf. Records of completion of other safety training sessionss are sent automatically to the department.
  • If you are planning to do an experimental Physics thesis project, or other graduate-level experimental Physics courses, you should complete the full Science Safety Training session instead of just basic WHMIS. This is also found on the Brightspace site.

Previous announcements

This is an advanced experimental laboratory course, 13 weeks in duration, four hours per week. Normally, six lab reports are completed, some involving several weeks of experiments.

Completing all experiments and submitting all lab reports is required to pass the course. Lab marks contribute a total of 75% to the final grade. Late submissions have a sinking cap of 15%/day, unless medical documentation is provided. See the Medical Exemption Policy and the medical health certificate at the Registrar's Website at this link.

There is a two-part final exam in the course:

• an oral exam worth 15% of the final mark, during which the student has access only to his/her lab book and reports and may be required to provide detailed explanations of the operating procedures and/or of the operation of the equipment in any of the experiments; and
• a written submission, due by noon on the last day of classes and worth 10% of the final mark, that is a re-write of one of the lab reports into a formal article manuscript, acceptable in format to Phys. Rev. Students are encouraged to bear this in mind during the labs, and to take extensive notes that could later be used for such final written submissions.

Maintaining safe and tidy workspace in the laboratory is required, and a failure to do so will result in an immediate involuntary withdrawal from the course. A passing grade in the course is conditional on maintaining safe laboratory practices, and on the final clean-up of the laboratory workspace at the end of the term, to the satisfaction of the instructor.

This is an approximate list; some of the experiments are conducted on research-grade equipment which may not always be available for student use. Some of the experiments listed below may not be offered this year, and others may be added to the list.

• Preparation of a thin film of Bismuth (H303B)
• Resistivity and Hall effect measurements on a thin film of Bismuth (H300A)
• Gamma-ray scintillation spectroscopy and the Compton effect (H308)
• Energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction (H305B)
• Planck's constant measurement I (black-body radiation) (H308)
• Planck's constant measurement II (photoelectric effect) (H308)
• Electron diffraction (H300)
• Raman spectroscopy (H300A)