Final Project Ideas
Below is a list of ideas for final projects, grouped by theme. You’re welcome to propose your own idea or extend an existing lab — for example, students have added an optical chopper and lock-in amplifier to improve hydrogen spectroscopy results. Many labs also include project suggestions at the end of their write-ups.
Optics & Photonics
- Laser ranging
- Optical trapping of colloidal particles (laser tweezers)
- Fabry-Perot interferometer (to measure Zeeman effect)
- Nitrogen laser
- Schlieren imaging
- Optical coherent diffractive imaging (imaging via diffraction patterns)
- Optical microphone to measure material properties (e.g., Young’s modulus)
Spectroscopy & Atomic Physics
- Zeeman and Stark effect using Doppler-free spectroscopy
- Measurement of Raman spectrum
- Photoelectric effect and measurement of Planck’s constant
- Modeling quantum effects using optical light and polarizers
Condensed Matter & Materials
- Investigation of superconductivity
- Investigation of high-temperature superconductivity
- Measurement of specific heat of materials
- Hall effect
- Vibrational modes of a thin metal plate
Nuclear & Particle Physics
- Rutherford scattering of alpha particles
- Energy loss of charged particles in matter
Precision Measurement & Instrumentation
- Atomic force microscope
- Measurement of gravitational constant G
- Measurement of the speed of light c
- Johnson and shot noise measurements from resistors
- Ultrasonic motion detector
- Quantum number generator
Astrophysics
- Radio telescope