Lab 8 Wrap Up / Lab 8X Prep

Lab 8 is one of my favorite labs.  It's where the rubber really meets the road in terms of an experiment, and where the teams really need to work together to get the work done efficiently.  This year the teams are bigger, but you all rose to the challenge and organized yourselves quickly.  It's too bad we don't have a couple of extra radiometers and rotating polarizers - things would go faster and the teams could be smaller for this experiment.

Three things are just plain true that slow us down a little compared to last time the class was taught.  First, we have more people in the class.  Another is that the classroom is in another building from the lab so we have to spend 5-10 minutes in transit.  And finally, we start half an hour later, and folks still want to get home at a reasonable time, so the open lab time is shorter.

And so we didn't quite finish.  Another half-hour would have done it.  We'll wrap it up next time, starting with 8E and moving to 8F.  We'll call this combo Lab 8X (for 8-extended).

For Lab 8X prep, complete the following tasks:

1.  Make sure your data for experiment 8A-8D is complete and recorded in the proper format.
2.  Write down at least 3 good questions you have about the experiment or your data.
3.  Compute how many laser photons at a time were in your polarizing filter.  Record explicitly any assumptions you needed to make.
4.  Enumerate the 6 mechanical degrees of freedom (three coordinates and 3 angles) of the polarizer in its mount and how those degrees of freedom are made repeatable each time when the mount is blocked on the table.

A polarizer in its mount blocked on the table with 3 bolts

The other polarizer on the table, but unblocked

Finally, the lab will be open 5-6 PM this coming Monday, October 22, with the table set up for Lab 8.