Department of Physics, Unit Catalogue 2006/07

PH30024 Contemporary physics

Credits: 6

Level: Honours

Semester: 1

Assessment: ES100

Requisites:

Students should have taken an appropriate selection of Year 1 and Year 2 Physics units in order to undertake this unit.
Aims & Learning Objectives:
The aim of this unit is to enable students to find out about some of the most exciting developments in contemporary Physics research. While taking this unit the student should be able to:
* demonstrate good time management skills in allocating appropriate amounts of time for the planning, research and writing of reports;
* carry out literature searching methods for academic journals and computer-based resources in order to research the topics studied;
* develop the ability to extract and assimilate relevant information from extensive sources of information;
* develop structured report writing skills;
* write a concise report following each seminar, at a level understandable by a final year undergraduate unfamiliar with the subject of the seminar;
* write a detailed technical report on one of the seminar subjects of the student's choice, displaying an appropriate level of technical content, style and structure.
Content:
This unit will be based around 4 seminars from internal and external speakers who will introduce topics of current interest in Physics. Students will write a short report following each seminar and then choose one of these subjects on which to research and write a longer technical report. Topics are likely to include recent developments in: Astrophysics and Cosmology; Particle Physics; Medical Physics; Laser Physics; Semiconductor Physics; Superconductivity; Quantum Mechanical Simulation of Matter;

University | Catalogues for 2006/07