Lab Tours
Students who arrive by early afternoon Friday have the option of touring
several local facilities. Some may also be open to visits on Saturday
or Sunday. The exact groupings of the campus labs is subject to change.
Tours include:
- McClellan Nuclear Research Center
A high point of the
tour is looking into the reactor and seeing the blue glow from Cerenkov
radiation. McClellan is a half-hour drive when there is no traffic.
Students will meet in the atrium of the Physics building at 1:00 PM
and 2:00 PM.
The tour itself is one hour, and the expected return times to Davis are
3:30 PM and 4:45 PM, respectively.
- Crocker Cyclotron
A physics research machine, repurposed to treat
eye tumors and test satellite parts. Meet in atrium at 3:30 PM for a
one-hour tour.
- Shockwave, Xenon, and STM Labs
Giant cannons used to recreate pressures and temperatures in the Earth's
core and mantle; detectors for neutrinos and dark matter; low-temperature
and sub-atomic resolution for quantum states of electrons. Start times 2 PM
and 3:30 PM, lasts 75 minutes.
- NMR, Optics, and Surface Science Labs
Equipment for
performing nuclear magnetic resonance experiments at low temperatures
and high pressures; laser probes of magnetism, thin film defects, and
possible pharmaceuticals, microscopy for atomic-scale visualization of
surfaces. Start times 2 PM and 3:30 PM, lasts 75 minutes.
- Interconnect, Low Temperature, and Material Synthesis Labs
Bonding techniques for assembling particle detectors; refrigerators
for cooling below 50 milliKelvin to study quantum behaviors; equipment
for growing crystals of new materials. Start times 2 PM and 3:30 PM, lasts
75 minutes.
- Hutchison Observatory (weather permitting)
A 14-inch telescope and associated control equipment. Starts 3:50 PM,
lasts 40 minutes.
- Chaos Lab
Visualize chaotic attractors in electronic circuits.
Start times 2 PM to 4 PM, lasts 30 minutes.
- Remote Observing Facility
Communication with the Keck Telescope in Hawaii. Start times 2 PM to 4
PM, lasts 20 minutes.
Meet for all tours in the atrium of the Physics Building.
