The Python reference pages used in this course live on the Physics Labs Python site, shared across the undergraduate lab courses. Everything below opens there.
Start here
| Setup & Installation |
Installing Python, VS Code, and the drivers for the DAQ, VISA instruments, and motors used in this course. The lab laptops already have all of it |
| Python Basics |
The language itself — values, functions, loops, imports |
| Workflows |
Notebooks vs. scripts, and when to reach for each |
| Working Effectively |
Writing calculations as reusable functions and keeping raw data separate from analysis |
Analyzing data
| Arrays and Plotting |
NumPy arrays, reading and writing data files, Matplotlib figures — Gaussian Beams Week 1 |
| Curve Fitting |
scipy.optimize.curve_fit, uncertainties, residuals, χ² — Gaussian Beams Week 2 |
| Error Propagation |
Propagating uncertainties by hand and with the uncertainties package — Gaussian Beams Week 3 |
| Fourier Analysis |
Power spectra with rfft, frequency resolution, windowing, aliasing — Michelson Week 2 |
