Teaching

PHYS 313: Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics

Fall 2022: Junior/Senior Level Statistical Mechanics and Thermal Physics

States, Binary Model, Multiplicity; Probability: Ensemble, Most probable configuration, Thermal equilibrium, Temp, Entropy; Two spin systems in Thermal Contact; Entropy increase in a heat flow; Laws of thermodynamics; Boltzmann Factor, Partition Function, Reversible Process; Perpetual Motion of Second Kind, Energy and Heat Capacity of a Two state system; Helmholtz Free Energy; Ideal Gas; Equipartition of Energy, Entropy of mixing, Harmonic Oscillator; Planck Distribution Function, Stefan Boltzmann Law, Cosmic Black Body Background Radiation; Chemical Potential; Gibbs Factor, Gibbs Sum; Chemical Potential of Ideal Gas, Mobile magnetic particles, two level System, CO poisoning; Fermi-Dirac; Bose Einstein Distribution and classical limits; Ideal gas with internal degrees of freedom; two-dimensional ideal gas; Entropy of mixing; Fermi Gas, Bose Gas; Superfluidity; Relativistic Fermi Gas; Photon Condensation; Heat Engines; Heat and Work; Carnot Cycle for ideal gas, Chemical Work for an ideal gas, Heat Pump, Room AC; Gibbs Free Energy; Vapor Pressure; Enthalpy; Thermal expansion near absolute zero; Gas-Solid equilibrium; Van der Waals equation of state; Landau theory of phase transitions; Van der Waals gas, Ferromagnets, Heat of vaporization of ice; Kinetic theory of Ideal Gas law; Transport Processes

PHYS 204/208: Advanced Instrumentation Laboratory/Instrumentation and Signal Analysis Laboratory

Spring 2022: Sophomore/Junior-level Advanced Instrumentation Laboratory

Principles of experimental design: limits of resolution via band-width, thermal noise, background signals; data acquisition and control by computer; computer simulation; signal processing techniques in frequency and time domains, FFT, correlations, and other transform methods; counting techniques. Applications include lock-in amplifiers, digitizing oscilloscopes and data acquisition systems.

AC circuit theory, Fourier series, discrete Fourier series. Fourier integral, discrete Fourier integral; analysis in time and frequency domains, correlation, cross correlation and other transform techniques; computer control of experiments via IEEE488 interface; advanced instrumentation; DMM, arbitrary waveform generator, multiplexing and digitizing oscilloscopes; experimental design, noise; design, construction, and testing of a lock-in amplifier.

PHYS221: Introduction to Modern Physics

Fall 2021: Sophomore-level Modern Physics

 Major Topics: Special Theory of Relativity; Particle Like Properties of Electromagnetic Radiation; Wavelike Properties of Particles; The Schrödinger Equation; Rutherford-Bohr Model of the Atom; The Hydrogen Atom in Wave Mechanics; Many-Electron Atoms; Molecular Structure; Statistical Physics; Solid-State Physics; Nuclear Structure and Radioactivity; Nuclear Reactions and Applications; Elementary Particles; Cosmology: The Origin and Fate of the Universe

FSNA 165 - Silicon and Its Applications

Fall 2021: First semester freshman Seminar Approach to General Education and Scholarship (SAGES) class

Introduction to Photovoltaics; Organic Photovoltaics; Working Principles; History and Perspective