Experimental physics for theoreticians

[micromass]

For pure math there's the princeton companion: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691118809/?tag=pfamazon01-20
For applied math ther's also a princeton companion: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691150397/?tag=pfamazon01-20
Maybe Demystifier is looking for something like that but in experimental physics?

 

[Demystifier]

For pure math there's the princeton companion: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691118809/?tag=pfamazon01-20
For applied math ther's also a princeton companion: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691150397/?tag=pfamazon01-20
Maybe Demystifier is looking for something like that but in experimental physics?

Yes, exactly. And I love the first of those math books very much, precisely for giving me a broad overview of pure math, at a level suitable for someone who, like me, is not a pure mathematician.

BTW, as books giving an overview of all pure math, I like also
Mac Lane
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0387962174/?tag=pfamazon01-20
and the Russian 3-books series Aleksandrov et al
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486409163/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[Andy Resnick]

Fine, if I also need to know how instruments work and how data are analyzed, then I am ready to read about that too. But I don't want to become an expert. I just want a broad overview. That's why the book series containing 30 books is too much for me. I am convinced that a broad overview of all most relevant stuff about experimental physics can be put in a compact form within 500-1500 pages.

Perhaps the problem is that while a few expressions can encapsulate an entire branch of science (e.g. Maxwell's equations), the same is not true for experimental measurements. That is to say, for example, 'spectroscopy', a measurement technique that can be applied to a wide range of physical phenomena, requires vastly different realizations to measure say, visible light transmission, elastic responses, molecular structure, etc. And each 'flavor' of spectroscope has its own specialized jargon: 'chemical shift' means a lot in NMR, nothing at all in acoustic spectrosopy. It makes no sense to try and write an overview text about spectroscopic techniques.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectroscopy

Even for something simple, say measurement of pressure, there are hundreds of devices, all optimized to work in a more-or-less narrow range of physical conditions with different substances. Same for temperature and viscosity.

Then there's the issue of noise, the various sources and and how they affect measurements.

For what it's worth, the following are good overviews:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521878586/?tag=pfamazon01-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521809266/?tag=pfamazon01-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470402296/?tag=pfamazon01-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521731674/?tag=pfamazon01-20
http://www.omega.com/techref/