PROGRAM

Casimir Course - Electronics for Physicists 2020

Date:

Time:

Mondays in November and December

Location:

Delft, buildings 20 and 22.

 

The course is a must-have for PhD students and postdocs interested in experimental physics. We will study electronics with a strong focus on practical applications. After reviewing the basics of passive and active components and their practical limitations, we will focus on circuit simulation, systematic troubleshooting and opamp circuits. Signals, noise and interference problems (and solutions!) will also be an important topic. We finish with an overview of microwaves and various measurement techniques, and a day on advanced use of electronic measurement equipment. Several case studies from the physics lab will be used throughout the course to make the theory come alive. 

The course will be given in Delft and consists of 6 afternoon lectures (13h45 to 17h00) and 6 hands-on sessions (8h45 to 12h45). Additional reading and preparation in between the course days will take another 3 to 5 days. For a detailed course description, please download the overview below. Please note that due to the current situation (see below), places are even more limited than usual. We therefore have the option to just follow the lectures and do the hands-on part the next time when we offer it (depending on how the situation will develop in the beginning of 2021, or later that year).

Instructors: Raymond Schouten, Tim Taminiau, Sowmini Kadathanad (all Delft University of Technology) and Tjerk Oosterkamp (Leiden University).

Audience: The course is mainly intended for PhD students and postdocs of the Casimir Research School. Motivated master students are welcome too.

Dates and venues: Course dates are: 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 November and 7 and 14 December. Please note: 2 November is the first lecture (no hands-on session), 14 December is the last hands-on session (no lecture that day). The hands-on morning sessions (8:45-12:45 hrs) will take place in rooms A151 and A164 of Building 22, Lorentzweg 1, Delft. All the afternoon lecture sessions (13:45-17:00 hrs) will take place in room CZ B of the Aula building, Building 20, Mekelweg 5, Delft.

Organization: 3 EC / 5 GSC credits will be awarded only to those participants who attend the complete course (6 lectures+6 hands-on sessions).

Reading: Book: The Art of Electronics, Horrowitz and Hill, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1989. Please note that the 3rd edition of this book is available now. Students should be in possession of the book (either the 2nd or the 3rd edition) when the course starts. Extra material is handed out during the course.

Covid-19 measures - Due to the current campus regulations, we urge you not to come to the campus when you and/or your housemates show any Covid-19 symptoms. We will make sure that the lecture rooms are big enough to keep a safe distance from one another, and we will provide disinfection products so the hands-on sessions (you will work in pairs) can continue as normal as possible, but we clearly also need your cooperation in this. If you have any specific questions, please contact Casimir Coordinator Marije Boonstra (boonstra@physics.leidenuniv.nl). If you don't feel comfortable doing the hands-on part of this course right now, please note that you can also sign up for the lecture part of this class only.

Additional message 15 October - The increasing number of corona infections has forced the government to carry out a partial lockdown. Unfortunately, new additional measures are again needed to reduce the number of infections. Educational activities are not being curtailed any further and we are pleased with that. In other words, the national restrictions on maximum group size do not apply to education. We do ask our students to keep their stay on campus as short as possible and therefore only stay on campus if necessary. Travel to and from the campus for educational purposes is permitted. TU Delft expects that all students and staff wear face masks on campus when moving through common areas in buildings (including  labs). This means upon entering, when moving between spaces and when leaving a building. Once you are sitting in a lecture hall or workspace, you may remove your face mask. 

Further information:
General information TU Delft coronavirus
Additional information Faculty of AS

For more information on the course, contact Raymond Schouten: r.n.schouten@tudelft.nl

Registration
Please note that seats are limited - we can accept 60 participants to the lectures, and 40 to the hands-on sessions. Currently, the hands-on sessions are fully booked, but we can host a few more people at the lectures. As this course is mainly intended for PhD students of the Casimir Research School, they will be given priority for the hands-on sessions.

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