The Physics/Astronomy Dept is a member of the College of Science and Technology at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA USA.  
 
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      Undergraduate Research
      Research Equipment at WWU
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Major Research Equipment/Services at WWU

The Department of Physics and Astronomy at WWU houses several major pieces of research equipment purchased from startup funds, and various internal and external grants (Three members of the department have recently been awarded Cottrell College Science Awards from Research Corporation). In addition some of the equipment was obtained via a recent NSF MRI grant (#0420377) and is shared with members of the newly created Materials Science Center (AMSEC).

Department of Physics and Astronomy
Sample Preparation
Sample Characterization
Research Computing Facilities
Undergraduate Project Lab Equipment
Planetarium

Other WWU Departments and Services
Department of Chemistry
Department of Geology
Scientific and Technical Services


Sample preparation
  • Magnetron sputter deposition system (3 guns, DC and RF power supplies)
  • Ball mill enclosed in a cooled, inert atmosphere glovebox
  • Denton thermal evaporator deposition system

Sample characterization

  • X-ray diffractometer with multilayer mirror and thin film optics (Powder and reflectivity geometries)

  • Mossbauer spectrometer
    • High temperature (300K-1000K)
    • Low temperature (10K -300K)
    • Room temperature conversion electron attachment
  • Portable Raman spectrometer
  • Brillouin Light Scattering spectrometer
  • Magneto-optical characterization apparatus

  • Two closed-cycle He cryostats for variable temperature electronic transport measurements (Resistivity, magnetoresistivity, AC susceptibility, thermopower, etc.)

  • Differential scanning calorimeter
  • Thermogravimetric analyzer

Research Computing Facilities

  • 16 node Apple G5 cluster
  • 3 Dell dual-processor workstations
Major pieces of undergraduate project lab equipment
  • Room temperature, student grade STM
  • 15 MHz NMR apparatus
  • Several tunable IR diode lasers
  • High Tc SQUID magnetometer
  • Laser wavelength meter (0.001nm resolution)
  • Student grade atom trapping apparatus (Rb)
  • Several gas lasers (5W Ar ion, 25W Ar ion, 25W CO2 laser)
  • Several grating spectrometers (largest has 1.5 meter arc length)
  • Several vibration isolated optical tables and lasers for optical holography experiments.
  • Department telescope (12 inch Schmidt-Cassegrian)
  • Konica Minolta Mediaglobe full-color digital planetarium projector and 24' dome.

    Need help or information? You can reach the Physics/Astronomy Advisor by phone or email for answers or to make an appointment.