Curriculum
The Master's programme Experimental Physics (EP) of Utrecht University is a 2-years programme of 120 EC, taught in English. The programme consists of:
- 23.5 EC compulsory elements
- a minimum of 22.5 EC primary electives, and
- 15 EC secondary elective courses; and finally
- a research thesis of 59 EC
You can find a complete overview of all courses of the Msc Experimental Physics programme, with references to the course descriptions in the Course Catalogue.
In addition to courses at Utrecht University, you also have the option to select courses offered in partnership with the Universities of Amsterdam (UvA and VU) and Nikhef. All mandatory courses, however, are taught in Utrecht. ”Because of their strong links to theoretical concepts, courses offered in Utrecht University’s Master’s programme in Theoretical Physics (Quantum Field Theory, Statistical Field Theory, etc.) are also well suited to be part of this MSc.
More information about the schedules and courses can be found via schedules. More detailed information about the listed courses can be found on the UU master's site.
Mandatory courses (23.5 EC)
(Descriptions of these courses can be found in the tab Course information below)
The mandatory part of the curriculum consists of five courses:
- Master’s Introduction (0.5 EC)
- Ethics – Dilemmas of a Scientist (0.5 EC)
- Experiment Design (7.5 EC)
Furthermore, you choose two courses out of the following list of four
- Particle Physics I
- Photon Physics
- Experimental Quantum Physics
- Soft Condensed Matter Theory
Electives (37.5 EC)
The elective part of the curriculum consist of two parts:
PART I: Primary Electives
Choose at least three primary electives from the list below (some of these courses are offered as part of the national collaboration on Particle Physics facilitated by research institute NIKHEF):
- Advanced Microscopy (EP/NM course)
- Modelling and Simulation (EP/TP course)
- Quantum Field Theory (TP course)
- Statistical Field Theory (TP course)
- Strong Interactions
- Particle Physics II (NIKHEF course)
- CP Violation (NIKHEF course)
- Beyond the standard model (NIKHEF course)
- Particle detection (NIKHEF Course)
- Gravitational waves (NIKHEF Course)
- Programming C++ (NIKHEF Course)
- Astroparticle Physics (NIKHEF Course)
- CERN Summer Student Program
PART II: Secondary Electives
Two additional courses can be chosen from anywhere in the Graduate School of Natural Science. Of course, these two courses can also be chosen from the primary electives. Students with an interest in the study of NanoMaterials (Study Programme Master's programme NanoMaterials) are strongly recommended to use their secondary electives to gain background in the field of Chemistry.
Nikhef courses
Nikhef is the National Institute for Subatomic Physics in the Netherlands. The organisation comprises about 240 employees: 145 physicists, 75 engineers and technicians, and 20 employees for general support. Based in Amsterdam, it is a collaboration between four universities and the funding agency FOM. The Institute coordinates and supports major Dutch activities in experimental subatomic physics, such as the ATLAS, LHCb, and ALICE experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and various astroparticle physics projects, such as the ANTARES neutrino telescope, the Auger cosmic-ray observatory, and the Virgo gravitational wave interferometer. Nikhef also has a theory department.
The Nikhef courses cover different aspects of particle physics, such as the principles of particle detection or the area of astroparticle physics. There is also the possibility to take part in the Nikhef Project, a group effort to build a particle detector. Participation in the CERN summer student program is supported and counts as part of the teaching programme.
In the second year of the Master’s programme, you will work in a research group on your thesis research project. This thesis will be supervised by two staff members associated with the programme; this rule applies even if your project is performed outside Utrecht University.
Before you start your research project, you should have finished the complete course program of 60 EC. However, this is not a strict requirement as long as you discuss this beforehand with the programme coordinator and your project supervisor. Depending on the topic of the research, you may be required to have finished certain courses in order to be accepted for a project. Before you start your project, an Application Form needs to be filled in by you and your supervisor(s) and signed by the you, the supervisor(s) and the programme coordinator. This form needs to be handed in at the Student Desk for approval by the Board of Examiners. If you are doing your research at a business outside the university, you also need to complete the Work place Agreement Form. At the end of the research project, an Assessment Form needs to be filled out and signed by your supervisor and the second examiner. This form should also contain feedback from your supervisor.
The research projects in this Master’s programme are all related to cutting-edge experimental research. Research projects on Bose-Einstein condensation, Condensed Matter Physics and Nanophotonics are generally done in the state-of-the-art labs at the University or externally in national research institutes such as the FOM Institutes DIFFER and AMOLF. Particle physics projects in high-energy physics and most of the measurements are carried out at CERN, the international research centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The Utrecht group collaborates closely with the Nikhef Institute in Amsterdam and the FOM Institute for particle physics in the Netherlands.