Location: Bowdoin / Physics and Astronomy / Resources and Facilities

The physics department is well equipped for both research and instruction. Two superconducting magnets, the smaller one operating at a field up to 6 tesla and the other reaching 13.5 tesla, are used in research on the quantum Hall effect, superconductivity, and resonant tunneling studies. A helium leak detector and a computer-based data acquisition system are available for cryogenic work. A mobile pumping station capable of achieving vacuum in the range of 10 ^-8 torr can be used for gas transfer and sample preparation work. The department has a class 1000 clean room for processing semiconductors and for other applications requiring a controlled environment. The clean room contains a Karl Suss photolithographic mask aligner that is able to pattern microscale circuits and devices. Two intrinsic-germanium detectors and a multiparameter analyzer are used in studies of coincident gamma rays. Apparatus is available for studies of the Mossbauer effect. Other supporting equipment includes a high-vacuum evaporator, and a rapid thermal annealer. Additionally, the department has recently setup a phonon imaging laboratory which allows the study of heat propagation in solids. This is a low temperature imaging system utilizing a cavity dumped argon-ion laser to excite thermal waves in semiconductors and insulators.