Simple vacuum experiments for undergraduate student laboratories

Abstract

An overview of typical simple experiments, intended for didactic laboratory vacuum classes for undergraduate students majoring in Physics, Physics Engineering and Material Sciences, is presented. For all the experiments, the students perform actual measurements of characteristics of different vacuum components or material properties and compare the obtained results with the values tabulated in the literature: pumping speed measurements, leak measurements, outgassing rate determinations and roughing line conductance estimation. The use of a He leak detector allows the measurement of helium permeability constants for different materials and, with an RGA, students are able to perform quantitative measurements of isotopic abundances for gases like argon and krypton.