1,372 research outputs found
Transforming a 4th year Modern Optics Course Using a Deliberate Practice Framework
We present a study of active learning pedagogies in an upper division physics
course. This work was guided by the principle of deliberate practice for the
development of expertise, and this principle was used in the design of the
materials and the orchestration of the classroom activities of the students. We
present our process for efficiently converting a traditional lecture course
based on instructor notes into activities for such a course with active
learning methods. Ninety percent of the same material was covered and scores on
common exam problems showed a 15 % improvement with an effect size greater than
1 after the transformation. We observe that the improvement and the associated
effect size is sustained after handing off the materials to a second
instructor. Because the improvement on exam questions was independent of
specific problem topics and because the material tested was so mathematically
advanced and broad (including linear algebra, Fourier Transforms, partial
differential equations, vector calculus), we expect the transformation process
could be applied to most upper division physics courses having a similar
mathematical base.Comment: 31 page
Studying a dual-species BEC with tunable interactions
We report on the observation of controllable spatial separation in a
dual-species Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with Rb and Rb.
Interparticle interactions between the different components can change the
miscibility of the two quantum fluids. In our experiments, we clearly observe
the immiscible nature of the two simultaneously Bose-condensed species via
their spatial separation. Furthermore the Rb Feshbach resonance near 155
G is used to change them between miscible and immiscible by tuning the
Rb scattering length. Our apparatus is also able to create Rb
condensates with up to atoms which represents a significant
improvement over previous work
Chemistry vs. Physics: A Comparison of How Biology Majors View Each Discipline
A student's beliefs about science and learning science may be more or less sophisticated depending on the specific science discipline. In this study, we used the physics and chemistry versions of the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) to measure student beliefs in the large, introductory physics and chemistry courses, respectively. We compare how biology majors -- generally required to take both of the courses -- view these two disciplines. We find that these students' beliefs are more sophisticated about physics (more like the experts in that discipline) than they are about chemistry. At the start of the term, the average % Overall Favorable score on the CLASS is 59% in physics and 53% in chemistry. The students' responses are statistically more expert-like in physics than in chemistry on 10 statements (P lesser-than-or-equal-to 0.01), indicating that these students think chemistry is more about memorizing disconnected pieces of information and sample problems, and has less to do with the real world. In addition, these students' view of chemistry degraded over the course of the term. Their favorable scores shifted -5.7% and -13.5% in 'Overall' and the 'Real World Connection' category, respectively; in the physics course, which used a variety of research-based teaching practices, these scores shifted 0.0% and +0.3%, respectively. The chemistry shifts are comparable to those previously observed in traditional introductory physics courses
Collisional stability of fermionic Feshbach molecules
Using a Feshbach resonance, we create ultracold fermionic molecules starting
from a Bose-Fermi atom gas mixture. The resulting mixture of atoms and weakly
bound molecules provides a rich system for studying few-body collisions because
of the variety of atomic collision partners for molecules; either bosonic,
fermionic, or distinguishable atoms. Inelastic loss of the molecules near the
Feshbach resonance is dramatically affected by the quantum statistics of the
colliding particles and the scattering length. In particular, we observe a
molecule lifetime as long as 100 ms near the Feshbach resonance.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
Correlating Student Beliefs With Student Learning Using The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey
A number of instruments have been designed to probe the variety of attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and epistemological frames taught in our introductory physics courses. Using a newly developed instrument -- the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS)[1] -- we examine the relationship between students' beliefs about physics and other educational outcomes, such as conceptual learning and student retention. We report results from surveys of over 750 students in a variety of courses, including several courses modified to promote favorable beliefs about physics. We find positive correlations between particular student beliefs and conceptual learning gains, and between student retention and favorable beliefs in select categories. We also note the influence of teaching practices on student beliefs
Recent Experiments with Bose-Condensed Gases at JILA
We consider a binary mixture of two overlapping Bose-Einstein condensates in
two different hyperfine states of \Rb87 with nearly identical magnetic moments.
Such a system has been simply realized through application of radiofrequency
and microwave radiation which drives a two-photon transition between the two
states. The nearly identical magnetic moments afford a high degree of spatial
overlap, permitting a variety of new experiments. We discuss some of the
conditions under which the magnetic moments are identical, with particular
emphasis placed on the requirements for a time-averaged orbiting potential
(TOP) magnetic trap.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures; corrected post-publication editio
Correcting for Distortions due to Ionization in the STAR TPC
Physics goals of the STAR Experiment at RHIC in recent (and future) years
drive the need to operate the STAR TPC at ever higher luminosities, leading to
increased ionization levels in the TPC gas. The resulting ionic space charge
introduces field distortions in the detector which impact tracking performance.
Further complications arise from ionic charge leakage into the main TPC volume
from the high gain anode region. STAR has implemented corrections for these
distortions based on measures of luminosity, which we present here.
Additionally, we highlight a novel approach to applying the corrections on an
event-by-event basis applicable in conditions of rapidly varying ionization
sources.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, proceedings of the Workshop on Tracking in High
Multiplicity Environments (TIME 05) in Zurich, Switzerland, submitted to
Nucl. Instr. and Meth.
Laser frequency locking by direct measurement of detuning
We present a new method of laser frequency locking in which the feedback
signal is directly proportional to the detuning from an atomic transition, even
at detunings many times the natural linewidth of the transition. Our method is
a form of sub-Doppler polarization spectroscopy, based on measuring two Stokes
parameters ( and ) of light transmitted through a vapor cell. This
extends the linear capture range of the lock loop by up to an order of
magnitude and provides equivalent or improved frequency discrimination as other
commonly used locking techniques.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures Revte
Loading of a Rb magneto-optic trap from a getter source
We study the properties of a Rb magneto-optic trap loaded from a commercial
getter source which provides a large flux of atoms for the trap along with the
capability of rapid turn-off necessary for obtaining long trap lifetimes. We
have studied the trap loading at two different values of background pressure to
determine the cross-section for Rb--N collisions to be 3.5(4)x10^{-14} cm^2
and that for Rb--Rb collisions to be of order 3x10^{-13} cm^2. At a background
pressure of 1.3x10^{-9} torr, we load more than 10^8 atoms into the trap with a
time constant of 3.3 s. The 1/e lifetime of trapped atoms is 13 s limited only
by background collisions.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
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