Graphical computing in the undergraduate laboratory: Teaching and interfacing with LabVIEW

We describe the development and implementation of an undergraduate physics laboratory course based on National Instruments' LabVIEW application. LabVIEW, a graphical programming language, provides an intuitive interface with which to teach fundamental computer-based data acquisition techniques. To convey the importance of these techniques in modern experimental physics, during our course the students complete a variety of tasks and experiments based around LabVIEW virtual instruments that they have constructed. Furthermore, LabVIEW is a powerful signal processing and waveform analysis tool, it may be used to reinforce core physics concepts taught in an analytical fashion in other courses. Foremost among these is Fourier analysis. We discuss the efficacy of LabVIEW as a pedagogical tool in a number of Fourier-related areas. Other important pure and applied physics topics covered in our LabVIEW course and briefly described here include resonance, filtering and lock-in techniques, thermal diffusivity, chaos, and optical absorption in solids.