Physics 623 is primarily intended for graduate students who will work in a research laboratory and require a basic background in electronic design and the use of electronic instruments.

The course covers the fundamentals of electronics including circuit theory, basic electronic components and the integration of components into practical circuits and measuring instruments. The course is taught with two 75 min lectures and one three hour laboratory session per week. There are 14 laboratory experiments and you typically work with a lab partner. The experiments start with the use of basic components such as transmission lines, transistors, and amplifier circuits and move on to experiments which include the study of feedback amplifiers, oscillators, and electronic noise. The final third of the course is devoted to digital circuitry with experiments such as analog /digital conversion, computer circuit simulation and programmable logic.

The text usually used is "The Art of Electronics" by P. Horowitz and W. Hill.

Prerequisites: Physics 321 or consent of instructor.

A typical syllabus indicating additional useful reference books is shown here. A list of the laboratory experiments with links to a full pdf version of the lab writeups is available on the Web course page.