Weekly Report for Week Ending April 5, 2001

The LIGO Executive Committee Agenda for Monday  April 9, 2001 will be:

 (Meeting time: 10:30 am Pacific Time)

Open meeting 10:30 - 11:30

1. Announcements
2. LSC Issues (Weiss)
3. Comments on Weekly Report
4. WBS 1 LIGO I Construction (Lindquist)
• Field Change Orders/Contingency Liens/Change Requests
5. WBS 2 LIGO Lab Operations
• Administration (Lindquist)
• Sites (Raab, Coles, Shoemaker, Sanders)
• Detector (Whitcomb, Coyne)
• Campus Research Facilities (Weinstein (40 Meter), Libbrecht (TNI), Zucker(LASTI))
• Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)
6. WBS 3 and 4  Advanced R&D and LIGO II (Sanders)

Special Items:

Special Announcements:

Weekly Report Highlights
 

LSC Issues (Weiss)

no report

LIGO I Construction/LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

WBS 1.2 LIGO Operations--Administration

No report this week.

The next site telecon is scheduled for Thursday, April 12, 2001. The list of current actions revised to reflect open actions assigned through March 29, 2001 may be found at ACTION LIST.

From: Ed Chargois <chargois_e@ligo.caltech.edu>

• Provided Caltech's Property Management Office with a Memorandum for surplus property (Computers, Monitors and Disc Drives) these items are being disposed of by Caltech's Transportation. Account Number LIGO.00009 1.2.1.NSFLIGO.000001.
• Received information from the General Services Administration concerning the use and operation of GSA vehicles, copies of this document was forwarded to both Hanford and Livingston Observatories.
• Assisted the project Office (P. Lindquist) with the printing and mounting of three posters via Caltech's Graphics Arts Department an delivered to A. Lazzarini. account Number LIGO.00009 1.2.1 NSFLIGO.000001.

>From: Linda Turner - turner@ligo.caltech.edu>

Web pages for the DCC give simple how-to's for document numbering, easy access to the latest on-line documents, and search capabilities for the DCC database. Take a look. . .

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Assembled highlights of returned LSC questionnaires and wrote an article for the upcoming issue of the LIGO newsletter.
• Designed an order form for LIGO polo shirts which will accompany an email to be sent out shortly.
• Received and processed 4 DCN's.

• copied and distributed 4 DCN's
• A fairly steady flow of electronic docs continue to come in.
• Prepared a set of Livingston As-Built Construction Drawings for copying per Gerry Stapfer's request.

Press here to access the DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER WEB PAGE.

From: Esther Cunningham <esther@ligo.caltech.edu>

Press here for ACCOUNTS PAYABLE HISTORY DATA.

From: "Brambila, Ruth" <Ruth.Brambila@caltech.edu>

• Working on Thomas Staffing, Employment Support Services, Delta and Syracuse University.
• Downsizing the files on the contracts and previous fiscal year's one time PO's. All of the closed files are being forwarded to DCC or Record Retention, as appropriate. Two file cabinet drawers have been emptied.
• There are five more drawers left to empty.
• Touched bases with all of the bidders who will be submitting bids for the liquid nitrogen RFQ for LLO which is due on Monday, April 9th. One bid has been received, and the other three are on the way.
• Finalized the list for the DCAA auditors. The list was modified after it was submitted to reflect the dates of the last signed certifications and the OMB Circular 133, if applicable, rather than just a "yes" or "no" that the contractor complies with the requirement. As new change orders come in, I am working on obtained current signed certifications and OMB
• Circular 133, as required, with the concurrence of the contract administrator.
• Placed orders on pcard and reconciled charges.

• Completed and sent out the Operations Reports for March for FY2000 and FP2001.
• Funding for fiscal period 2001 Operations has now been recorded in Oracle.
• Held a meeting with Moses Nurtjahja of Federal Accounting regarding the approximately $400K of construction funding which did not appear in the Oracle budgets.  I was notified by him yesterday that the entries have now been made.  The Oracle budgets for all LIGO accounts Construction, Ops, Visitor and R&D now correctly reflect the total award from NSF.

From: irena@ligo.caltech.edu (Irena Petrac)

• Syracuse Univ: CO No. 01, de-obligating residual funds and extending the contract through Nov. 30, 01, was released to Purchasing.
• SIOM: CO No. 02, adding the first installment of funds in support of Phase II of the sapphire growth technology demonstration (for Advanced LIGO specifications) is in Detector group review. Proposal from SIOM for same is pending.

From: Ed Jasnow <jasnow@ligo.caltech.edu>

• See report below.

Support (Wood)

Irene Baldon

• Processed thirteen (23) new trips (including Advance Checks written and hotel/car rental authorizations filled out and Faxed to appropriate vendors in various locations); one (1) trip has been ticketed and is awaiting completion of necessary paper work; and five (5) trips are pending final approval before tickets can be issued.
• Completed twenty (29) Expense Reports and have forty-four (44) Expense Reports to work on.  I'm holding three (3) reports which need a check from the traveler before processing and an additional four(4) that need information from the traveler.  Jim Covington completed fifteen (15) Expense Reports and has six (6) reports that he is working on.  I continue to train and supervise him on expense reports.
• I reconciled twenty-three (23) items on my P-Card.  Assisted a few travelers with their reconciling and/or data entry.  And have worked on a few problem reports and well as met with Criselda, Muriel, and Liz on a number of problems.
• Prepared the Travel/Vacation Itinerary for the Week of April 3, 2001.  Performed normal recording and filing associated with Travel and Reimbursement.  Also performed miscellaneous duties as requested by various members of  the LIGO Project here at Caltech as well as from members of the staffs of each of the two (2) sites.  I continue to do MIT's travel to the sites for installation activities and also to assist them wherever possible.

• Processed the usual requisitions, invoices and receiving on-line. For more detail, see "Cost Schedule Control Systems" report by Esther Cunningham.
• Tracked and followed up on invoice problems.
• Reviewed and recorded payments processed by Esther for the week of March 26,  on contract summary sheets and in the LIGO database.
• Continue to monitor contract and blanket order encumbrance and notify task managers when supplements are needed.
• Focused mainly on continuing the update of  the PO Log books for the period September through  January (almost done, one more binder to update).
• Jim continues with data entry in the LIGO database and also help out in the travel and DCC areas.

• Checking weekly for incoming LSC reports and plans.  Formatted the report from Louisiana Tech; now in review.  Scanned year 2000 Attachment A for CACR, this is now ready for posting on the web.  Obtained Oracle requisition number for Syracuse University, change order no. 1.
• Prepared a letter to FedEx regarding the shipment to our people in Japan of flanges for testing purposes.  Prepared labels for the resistors delivered by Newark.  As time permits, will arrange resistors in the BD lab according to the labels.
• Placed several Pcard purchases this week, reconciled a few, needed backup information for 3 of them.  Updated site trips on the web.  Almost finished recreating in Word the Caltech Justification Checklist for purchases over $5K.  This electronic form should replace the poor quality paper version, and should make it easier to fill in (type, rather than hand write) the required info.

• The NSF dry-run will be 9:00 a.m. Tuesday April 17 in the SCR.   I will let you know the definite deadlines in a future email, but my current wish is that you get me your presentations first thing in the morning Thursday, April 26 so I can get the binders ready.
• Spent time working on two proposals with the Fast-Lane system (tm, all rights reserved).  User-abusive only begins to describe this system.  Simple changes require deleting entire files and re-entering the information.  The good news is that Fast-Lane (tm, all rights reserved) will now accept WORD files directly without previous distillation.
• Because I am hearing about frustration people are experiencing with pcard travel and related expense forms, the Pcard Guru Criselda and I are planning an educational meeting (or several in order to reach everybody in LIGO) to cover the issues that have arisen.  We are currently working on a curriculum and will let you know when the meetings will be.  Your input is appreciated.

Advanced LIGO (Frey, Petrac)

Progress Period from 03.30 to 04.05

Accomplishments:

• Weekly Advanced LIGO Project Controls meeting held April 2nd.
• Focus of the meeting was the implementation of the MRE cost estimate and the MRE Cost Book.
• Proposal plan development for Advanced LIGO MRE.
• Updating on hold until after NSF review and when proposal strategy is announced.
• Development of the TNI work plan and schedule.
• Eric Black now has a PC and is set up to do updates.
• Project Plan for the 40-Meter Lab Upgrade continues.
• Processing update data  for progress data as of 03.30.01.
• Planning process for the LASTI project at MIT is in progress.
• Processing update data  for progress data as of 03.30.01.
• Started to re-baseline the LASTI plan.
• Continue to test the Cost Book Tool. (Highest Priority)
• Continue mapping and formatting of OPS cost data for input.
• Finished data table changes for BK to integrate.
• Produced weekly status report for Phil due to his vacation.
• Development of the Advanced LIGO Project Controls Guidebook continues.
• Project Web Site for posting schedule and progress related data continues to be updated with the latest and greatest.
• See http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/index.html

• Next weekly Advanced LIGO Project Controls meeting will be scheduled for April 9th.
• Advanced LIGO MRE Proposal
• Updating of schedule on hold until after NSF review and when proposal strategy is announced.
• Highest priority is the development of the Cost Estimate.
• Will continue to pursue all other sub system schedules.
• Will initiate the updating of the COC and AOS schedules.
• Will Continue to develop the TNI Schedule.
• Will begin integration into the P3 Database.
• Will Continue to update the LASTI Schedule with progress.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 03.30.01 and  Post to site.
• Will issue data requests for progress data as of 04.13.01 that are due Friday the 13th.
• Will continue to incorporate changes to the baseline plan.
• Will continue updating the 40 meter schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 03.30.01 and  Post to site.
• Will issue data requests for progress data as of 04.13.01 that are due Friday the 13th.
• Continue to test the Cost Book Tool.
• Cost Book Tool development continues.  (Highest Priority Task)
• Will continue ops cost data input.
• Will continue the development of the Advanced LIGO Project Web Site.
• Will continue the development of the Advanced LIGO Project Controls Guide Book.

From: irena@ligo.caltech.edu (Irena Petrac)

• SEI RFP: Cost and Schedule updates based on additional information, exchanged as a result of recent facility visits (to respondents in the competitive range), are in review.
• B.F. Goodrich: A meeting at B.F. Goodrich, to discuss possible collaboration in support of the Advanced LIGO optics R&D and associated contracting strategy, is taking place this week.
• A Non-Disclosure Agreement, covering B.F. Goodrich' proprietary data that might need to be exchanged during the meeting and/or as a result of an award, is in place.

WBS 1.4.1.2   Project Controls (LIGO Construction)

• I have received several contributions for an end-of-February Quarterly Progress Report and the report is in progress.
• Also working with David Shoemaker to set up assignments for Advanced R&D Annual Report. We should be submitting this report (necessary to get FY 2001 funding) over the next month or so.

The following Change Requests have been submitted:
 

Press for the latest Contingency Needs Projection.

From: Kris Duncan <kris@ligo.caltech.edu>

• No report this week.

• The monthly reports (Allocation of Actual Costs for Construction and Advanced R&D) for periods ending March 2001 has been put on the network.
• I am working on gathering the details for the monthly reports on the Construction and Advanced R&D accounts for March 2001. I will email them to the Task managers as soon as I have completed them.
• I continue to reviewed the open encumbrances on the Construction and Advanced R&D accounts to see if the requested removals have been made. I will continue to review these accounts weekly until all encumbrances have been removed (Remember, I can only get these errors corrected if the Task Managers point them out to me).
• The financial reports on the web provide supporting detail.
• http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport
• http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~finance
• Reminder: An updated list of all OPEN LIGO account numbers have been posted on the LIGO internal bulletin board. Please use these lists when you need a LIGO account number (or make yourself a printed copy for quick references).
• http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/

From: Ed Jasnow <jasnow@ligo.caltech.edu>

• A decision was reached regarding the location of the new building at Hanford.  That location is now 775 feet south of the corner station.  We are still awaiting approval of the architect/engineering contract from the NSF so we may begin the design at this new location.
• Construction of the Livingston Staging Building is running about one week behind schedule, but going smoothly.
• Seats for the auditorium in the Livingston Staging Building have been selected from American Seating, and a purchase order in the amount of $51,000 will be placed next week.

• See reports above.

Quality/Safety (Tyler)

• No report this week.

LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) Operations (Raab)

Weekly for Doug Cook (submitted by D. Coyne)
All 2 km interferometer small optics suspensions (IO) have been put back
into the HAM chambers with the exception of one mode cleaner (MC) flat
mirror which required rework to the suspension tower; This rework has been
completed and the optic is expected to be re-installed soon. The 4 km
interferometer MC has been locked in air for as long as ~1/2 hr. Length
measurements are pending. Work continues on alignment of the 4 km PSL
pre-mode cleaner.
 

After re-installation into chamber WBSC8, it was discovered that the
ITMy,2k optic was hung incorrectly in pitch; It was set to retroreflect
from the anti-reflection (AR) surface instead of the high-reflectance (HR)
surface. It has been removed from the chamber. The guide rod an wire
standoff were debonded from the optic and then reset. It will be vacuum
baked this weekend and re-installed Monday.
 

The ETMy,2k suspension assembly has been re-installed into the y-mid
station chamber and is in the process of being re-aligned using a new
procedure (E010066-A) which does not require spool removal. This procedure
is facilitated by having both the LHO and LLO IAS survey equipment (total
stations and laser autocollimators) available.
 
 

Facilities
(O. Matherny)
The new  Auditorium/Office Building will be located about 775 feet southeast
from the 4K input. The field work for the geotechnical investigation for the
building was completed 4-05-01.

LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO) Operations (Coles)

PEM: Finished the control room handbook for the seismometers. The handbook is a quick reference for seismometer data including current status of the
instruments, sample printouts of 'good' seismic data, an instruction guide for using the DTT and the dataviewer to view seismic data, and an anomalies section for unexplained signals. I am hoping to begin work on the voltage monitor handbook today which I believe I can finish tomorrow or Monday. I will also introduce the handbook
to the operators and encourage them to begin using the DTT routine that I set up to check the seismometers at least three times a week, perhaps daily. (Doug Lormand)

LDAS: We have received six pallets (!) of LDAS equipment, which we are sorting out. We are also preparing the mass storage room area for installation (SUN was contracted to do installation as part of the purchase contract). We have received a Dell PC and a Sun Blade 100 for upgrades for individual users. (Shannon Roddy)

GC: We are working on security issues concerning GC and CDS.

Other operations issues: I have been working on baking and cleaning osems with Gary and Harry. They should be sent out tomorrow. I also have some parts ready to go into the oven for the 40m. I have helped Rana a small amount with some calibrations of some of the channels. I have also learned the proper termination of an oscilloscope when measuring GPS signals. (Joe Langdale)

Jonathan Kern has begun to put together a detailed schedule for activities that will be undertaken during the vent following E4.

Joe Kovalik is investigating the spectral density of the mode cleaner length variation. The transfer functions of the HAM seismic stacks are apparent in the data, along with other features that should be investigated. See http://www.ligo-la.caltech.edu/ilog/pub/ilog.cgi

Outreach: As part the of East Baton Rouge Parish Library Summer Program, we will visit each libray to speak about LIGO and conduct a hands-on presentation using
the spectrometers. There are 8 libraries and we will do one per week. The presentation will be advertised by the library as a family acitivity centering around middle school children but all ages will be invited to attend. (Bonnie Wascom)
 

Detector/Technical Support (Whitcomb, Coyne)

DETECTOR

See also the daily electronic logs for the installation and commissioning activities:
Hanford Detector Log
Livingston Detector Log

1.1 LHO INSTALLATION & COMMISSIONING

2km Earthquake repairs

• Re-alignment of the 2km interferometer vertex optics was delayed due to an error in setting the nominal pitch angle for the ITMy,2k core optic. (The procedure is in the process of revision now to help prevent a repeat of this error.) Rework and re-assembly of the ITMy,2k suspension should be completed Monday (following a weekend vacuum bake out) and installed early next week.
• Work continues on alignment of the 2 km PSL pre-mode cleaner in the new PSL optical layout.
• All 2 km interferometer small optics suspensions (IO) have been put back into the HAM chambers with the exception of one mode cleaner (MC) flat mirror which required rework to the suspension tower; This suspension should be installed this week.
• The 4 km interferometer MC has been locked in air for as long as ~1/2 hr. Length measurements are pending.
• The ETMy,2k suspension assembly has been re-installed into the y-mid station chamber and is in the process of being re-aligned.

2-k IOO repairs

The 2k PSL/IOO table layout has commenced, at the time of writing the PMC was aligned but not locked.

People involved in this work Betsy, Malik, Mark G, Corey, Josh, Richard and Dave O and Dave Guagliardo.

4-k IOO installation

The 4k mode cleaner was locked in air for periods exceeding 20 minutes using the 4k RF system and the 2k control card. However significant power fluctuations at 1.8 Hz were observed.

UF will ship this week 2 Coherent optical spectrum analyzers (and 1 controller) for use on the 4-k PSL and IOT tables.

Rich Abbott
LHO received the boards for the modecleaner servo.

LHO-TriNet seismic station (LTH)

1.2LLO INSTALLATION & COMMISSIONING

Commissioning

Much of the last two weeks has been dedicated to chasing several electronics problems. The most difficult to diagnose has been poor synchronization of the interferometer control computers at the LVEA and the y end station. The problem was ultimately traced to a faulty GPS timing distribution board at the y end station.

The lock acquisition has progressed to the ability to lock either arm cavity and the Michelson interferometer together. The process to lock the entire system works up to the point where a cavity and the Michelson are locked and the second cavity is brought into resonance. Then the transition to the final lock acquistion is made in the locking code but the system fails to make the final acquisition. There is a good chance that we will resolve the problem in the coming week.

Concurrently work is on going to make an authoritive measurement of the frequency noise of the laser/mode cleaner and to derive a calibrated displacement spectrum of the single arm cavity from the E3 data.

Input Optics

2.0 OtherEngineering and Scientific Activities

2.1 Design/Analysis/Fab

Optics Modelling

Modelling Flattened Modes for Advanced LIGO

I also found that the two branches of the recycling cavity are adjusted by a quantity larger than lambda so I tuned by myself the lengths around the value chosen by the code to check whether it has stopped on the top of the resonance curve and it effectively has.

I took another step back since the overall power inside the interferometer is far smaller than what expected both from evaluations and the previous tests with only one cavity in resonance; I put the spherical recycling mirror back instead of the "reshaped" one but the power built up was still small.

Then I started to look at the field maps and I found an asymmetric deformation of the wavefront inside the recycling cavity and I will discover the source. To do that I sneaked a pipe inside the algorithm and added many lines to the code with a view to have informations on the field in more points than the ones the program has been providing.

I am currently debugging such updated version of the code on the CACR machines.

LSC

Rich Abbott, Flavio Nocera, Mohana Mageswara
LHO MC Servo: Mohana has sent three PCB's to the board house.  We should have the new revision of the MC servo within a day or so.  It will be stuffed and tested immediately

LSC at Livingston: While I was there a week ago, it was brought to my attention that the reset circuits on the whitening filter boards had malfunctioned.  The new revision of the whitening filter uses a commercial reset circuit.

Flavio has been developing test procedures for timing boards and has tested several to date for use in the LHO 4k LSC.

PSL

Lee is currently re-installing the phase-correcting Pockels cell in the laser, after a successful trial of the prototype alignment housing.  The Pockels cell will be installed with the final housing.

Rick Karwoski, Paul Russell

• PSL custom boards -- We proceeded with the testing of Frequency Stabilization boards. We had two failures during burn-in -- both occurring on the Frequency reference boards and both involving a particular IC. The boards have been repaired and are currently undergoing a re-burn cycle.  Assuming no further difficulties with these boards we stand as follows regarding items slated for LASTI and the 40m:
BENCH TESTED BOARDS

PMC area:
35.5 MHz PD (qty. 2 --LASTI/40M)
35.5 MHz Freq Ref (qty. 2 --LASTI/40M)
PMC Servo (qty. 2 --LASTI/40M)

Frequency Stabilization:
21.5 MHz PD (qty. 2 -- LASTI/40M)
21.5 MHz Freq Ref (qty. 2 -- LASTI/40M)
Freq Stab Servo (qty. 2 --LASTI/40M)

REMAINING UNTESTED BOARDS

Frequency Stabilization:
80 MHz VCOs (qty. 2 --LASTI/40M)
 

• · Cross-connect panels -- A single PSL cross-connect panel exists. There has been no progress on a second; PR's attention remains focused on Intensity Stabilization and PSL board test support.
• · Intensity stabilization. -- Some time was spent this week generating a representational noise model of the observed PSL noise. The noise model was linked to the existing Intensity Stabilization Servo simulator which furnishes relative intensity noise output results directly.  A bulletin containing a compilation of these simulation results will be on the network this week.

Sander Liu
Two each of the 21.5 MHz and 35.5 MHz Frequency Reference cards are now fully functional and ready for system test.

New OSEM Heads

AC OSEMs

ASC/LSC/Digital Suspensions

Rolf Bork, Lori
Lori has been working on the code for the LVEA LOS coil drivers. This code should be ready end of next week.  In the process, we determined that a single CPU can not handle more than three optics, due to the many filter sections required to provide for the frequency dependent output matrix.  This will then necessitate a harware change, which Jay is incorporating in his drawings.

Data Acquisition

a) Hardware:

• Present LVEA ADCU will have their dual MIPS processors replaced by a single PentiumIII.  We have dual CPUs in these VME crates now, as we have up to 5 ADC modules, but each MIPS CPU could only handle up to three.  A single PentiumIII CPU can easily handle the 5 ADC modules (160 channels).
• VME5588 reflected memory modules in these ADCU will be replaced by a PMC5579 reflected memory module.  The 5579 units are only 20% cost of the 5588 and would free up the 5588 modules to be used in the DSC.
• PCI5588 modules in DAQ controller, Framebuilder and Framebroadcaster will be replaced with PCI5579 as well.

b) ADCU Software:

• Auto detects hardware configuration, such that same code can run in existing systems or new 5579 based systems, in a site system or in LASTI/40m system.
• Reconfig/resync without necessity to reboot.
• Can send data directly to Framebuilder, relieving the DAQ controller of task of reformatting and retransmitting ADCU data.

• Auto detects hardware configuration, such that same code can run in existing systems or new 5579 based systems, in a site system or in LASTI/40m system.
• Modified to handle more data collection units ie the new DCS.

GDS

Wrote a program to test if it is possible to use the 2D histograms of ROOT as a real-time display for time-frequency plots. This required the implementation of a custom update method which scrolls the plot horizontally---rather than redrawing the whole plot every time a new frequency column is added. This seems to work just fine: A 200 bin x 200 bin color-coded histogram could be scrolled as fast as 50 bins/sec
 
 

40 Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)

• Larry Jones reports that LLO will ship the last batch of cleaned and baked 40m vacuum equipment to Steve Vass, AFTER the higher-priority OSEM bake happening right now. Larry and Steve are doing an inventory of all pieces needed for the vacuum envelope: cleaned and baked stuff from LLO and Allied, and the last batch of stuff to be shipped TO Allied for clean/bake. Steve Vass is crating up all the big pieces for shipment to Allied, except for that last big piece (the 29.5" adj bellows) which will be shipped directly from A+N to Allied on April 23.
• Larry is working on the drawings for the camera viewports to the 12m mode cleaner suspended mirrors, and will go over it all with Steve Vass and Mike Smith; Mike will include these in his comprehensive optomech ACAD layout.
• Currently, we have no clean way to get a camera view of the 3 suspended optics in the beamsplitter chamber (BS, RM, SM). Steve, Mike, and Larry will try to come up with a scheme.
• Steve Vass will spec and get quotes on the big optical tables we need for ISC. Larry Jones is designing the smaller optical tables we need for the optical levers (in consultation with Mike Zucker et al).
• We discussed the question of in-vacuum cabling. Larry Jones and Steve Vass will determine which cables from the input optic chamber (which houses 2 of the 3 12m mode cleaner suspended optics, a mode matching telescope, and a pair of PZT sterring mirrors) will get brought over to the BS chamber, down its stack through its vacuum feedthroughs, and which (if any) should go down and out the input optic chamber stack and feedthroughs. Mike Smith will put all these cable runs in his optomech ACAD layout.
• OSEM cabling: even if we use chopped OSEM signals, we can still use flat kapton ribbon cables (for which OTS cable, and stack clamp, solutions exist) instead of twisted pair (for which such solutions do not yet currently exist) and live with offsets. If solutions for twisted pair are developed, we can switch to them if we have time.
• Mike Smith continues his scattered light analysis. He searches for glints off of lens surfaces in output ports that can scatter back into the IFO, creating noise. A Faraday isolator he places at the asymmetric port to reduce downstream glints creates its own glint problem. The proposed solution is to deliberately misalign the Faraday isolator (and lenses in all the output ports) in a well-defined way, so that glints don't scatter directly back into the IFO beam path. (This is something that was not done in LIGO, and it should be revisited there if backscattered light becomes a problem). He will write up this study when he returns to Caltech in May.
• Mike Smith and Steve Vass inventoried all the optical quality viewports that are required in the 40m IFO.
• Ben Abbott reports that all electrican work is complete at the 40m; conditioned power is available to all CDS racks. The DAQS rack now has power for the VME crates, Ultra 60, RAID array, etc that he has installed in it.
• Rolf and Lisa Bogue are working on getting the DAQS Sun Ultra 60 and VME CPUs up and running.
• The DAQS crate will have a Pentium DAQS Controller, a Baja "IOC" to get EPICS channels into DAQS, and a Motorola 162 to read data into EPICS from a variety of digital devices via RS232 (STACIS controllers, dust monitor, weather station, etc). Analog devices (accelerometers, seismometers, etc) will be read in by an "ADCU", and we need only one more board for a complete (bare bones) system: the custom 4MHz GPS board - on back order, no delivery date.
• Jay Heefner reports that the last 2 CDS racks (of 10) will be delivered by the end of this month.
• Jay will request a Sun from Larry Wallace to serve as a "Luna equivalent" for the 40m lab.
• We will meet with PEM experts at Hanford for guidance on assembling a full complement of PEM equipment at the 40m. Caltech freshman Victor Tsai will work with Ben and Dennis to get rs232 readout of digital devices (STACIS isolators, dust monitor, weather station, etc) into EPICS.
• Dennis Ugolini and Ben Abbott are testing all of the vacuum valve control boxes (local to pumpspool, and remote) that they built for the new vacuum control system. The vacuum control EPICS GUI can now display all the gauge readings and can control, and read back the status of, most of the valves. A few problems remain and are being fixed. The N2 monitor has been implemented. The various hardware and software interlocks are being tested. This testing and fixing of small problems should take the next 2 weeks, then we're ready for a full pump-down.
• We expect to go to clean room conditions next week, in preparation for the beginning of installation of the PSL laser and optics. Steve Vass remains concerned about a plastic-y smell that builds up in the new PSL enclosure; we will continue to evaluate it.
• Rick Karwoski reports that boards for the PSL PMC are in hand and tested for the 40m and LASTI. For the PSL FSS, 3 of the 4 types of boards are in hand and tested for the 40m and LASTI, and a fourth (80MHz VCOs) awaits parts and testing. One of the 2 cross-connect assemblies (one each for 40m and LASTI) is built, the other will hopefully be built in the next 2 weeks. Progress continues on the intensity stabilization servo (ISS) electronics for all PSLs. Rick will work towards having the PSL "basic light source" control electronics ready for installation at the 40m by the end of this month.
• The big question of whether AdvLIGO, and the 40m prototype, should make the beam spots larger, remains. (AdvLIGO will want to do this to reduce thermoelastic noise; 40m may want to do the same, in order to have the same Guoy phases and thus the same WFS system, as AdvLIGO).
• AJW continues to update the "Conceptual Design of the 40 meter Laboratory Upgrade for prototyping a Advanced LIGO Interferometer", 40m_cdr.pdf.

Thermal Noise Interferometer (Libbrecht)

This week we have been developing an alignment scheme for our arm cavities,
using the beam transmitted through the mode cleaner.  Finding the cavity
axis in such a short cavity (1cm) is somewhat subtle because we do not have
access to the space between the test masses.  We developed a fairly
reliable alignment scheme last December, when we were sending the beam
around the mode cleaner and directly into the test cavity, using an
auxiliary He-Ne to find the
cavity axis.  Alignment is somewhat more difficult with the mode cleaner
locked, largely because all of the cavities are on the same
seismic-isolation stack.  Any manual adjustments made to the steering
mirrors to bring the beam into the arm cavity disturb the mode cleaner.  We
are still working on this.
 

The pneumatic gate valve and 0.015 liter-per-second needle valve for the
vacuum-pump safety interlock system have arrived, and we expect to begin
installation of that system soon.
 

We have also continued to repair the remaining OSEM controllers and expect
to have all seven working according to spec by this Friday.

LASTI (Zucker)

LASTI (Mason, Shoemaker, Harry, Mittleman, MacInnis, Rollins, Zucker)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Ken Mason is working on the optical layout for the recently proposed
dual-cavity configuration.  This plan, supported enthusiastically by
our review board at the recent LSC meeting, will permit tests to more
closely approach the advanced LIGO displacement noise target by
increasing the feasible cavity beam size-- if it fits, that is. The
sticky part is the need to get four beams (two 'arm-cavity' beams and
the two beams of a 15-meter triangular mode cleaner) to fit through our
30" beam tube.  So far it looks feasible in AutoCad, but only with
tight constraints on the footprints of advanced LIGO LOS and SOS
suspension structures. We're conferring with the suspension folks to
understand the impact. The alternative (procuring larger beam tubes) is
something we'd like to avoid.
 

The custom cleanroom for the BSC is in the final stages of fabrication
(only a week after releasing the PO!) and is not expected to
delay the BSC support structure installation scheduled for early May.
 

We have discussed moving the Stiff Rapid Seismic Prototype experiment
with the AdLIGO SEI folks and have made a tentative plan to
decommission it this month to make room near the BSC.
 

PSL components and SEI installation fixtures continue to pour in; today
is yet another Big Moving Day with all hands to the pallet jacks to
reshuffle equipment and make room.

Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)

Simulation and Modeling (Bhawal)

Physics Studies
---------------
Biplab and Matt are working on analytical derivation for lock acquisition
times - first in simple cases.

Suspension System
-----------------
(Virginio) quadruple pendulum suspension simulation:
- Low frequency behavior of the single and the double chain of quadruple
  pendulum has been implemented.
- Time domain simulation code is still buggy.
- The internal modes of the main structures like blades and wire are still
  under debugging.
  Several patches to try to fix this issue have been test
  but each one has some problems.
- Writing down a short internal document describing the simulation and the
  results obtained
- Cross coupling effects on the t.f. among the DoF's under study.

Code Development
----------------
(Hiro) A senario to support the completely frequency domain simulation has
been discussed. The same box files can be used to generate time series data
or frequency characteristics directly. This feature is useful for
(i) serving as nominal noise source generator and for (ii) validating box
file settings.

Code Maintenance
----------------
Hiro and Biplab cleaned up few parts of the code.

E2E at CACR
-----------
Ed and Hiro worked to port the simulation code to CACR. The code could
finally be compiled, but some incompatibility is observed and that issue
is being pursued.

Alfi
----
(Bruce) Working on showing box/primitive comments correctly in the
parameters dialog.

LIGO Data Analysis System

Software Systems (Blackburn)

 

 

The primary focus this week was to stablize LDAS software development
enough to have a code freeze to allow a complete testing of software
functionality. Our goal was to maintain compatibility with previous
LDAS functionality while also having in place all the API pieces to
allow work on the dataPipeline functionality needed for the inspiral
MDC to be the driving effort in the next development cycle. The code
freeze was begun at 6PM on Wednesday and is expected to be in place
until Monday while the tests are performed. Roughly 20 problem reports
were closed this week in response to the need to stablize software.

Only one API functionality was not completed in this release; The
ability to handle multiple frames in a single frame file and the
ability to handle frames of arbitrary duration were not completed in
time. These missing frameAPI functions will be added immediately after
the release to the development system.

The eventMonitorAPI is now stable and demonstrates the baseline set
of functionality needed to support the next MDC. It will however need
extended support for database tables. In addition, the inspiral upper
limits group is planning to present a new table design by April 15
for the inspiral MDC which will have to be captured in the C++ code
of the eventMonitorAPI.

The documentation for the dataConditionAPI is very nearly at the 100%
of the scheduled level for implemented functionality.

Work has begun on testing the applicability of LAPACK as a baseline
linear algebra library for the dataConditionAPI. Issues of binding
this fortran library to our C++ dataConditionAPI and thread safety
will be first on our lists of activities to verify this candidate.

Several changes to the wrapperAPI headers were identified and
coordinated with the MPI group. These changes are needed to support
BLOBS in the database and to standardize the integer types used for
GPS timestamps to the type used on the Frame Specification.

Hardware Systems (Anderson)

 

 

        A highly successful test of the Sun HPSS port at Sun's benchmark center in Beaverton, OR was performed
with software engineering support from Sun and IBM. This has validated the
viability of a Sun server based HPSS solution for the central LIGO data
archive.

        The move of LDAS from the mass storage room to the staging building
mezzanine area at LHO has been successfully completed, see,
http://apex.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/~gmendell/ldas_pics.

        The full 1.7TB of data from the E3 run at LHO and LLO have been
successfully ingested into the archive at Caltech, see,
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/sba/ligo/hpss.

        All 28TB of the LDAS disk cache have been delivered and installation
will be scheduled throughout April and possibly the first half of May.

        The 6000-slot tape library for the central LIGO data archive has
arrived at Caltech and is being assembled this week in Powell-Booth, see,
http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/~sarah/pics/robot0401.

        A security, backup, and SNMP management server has been identified
and ordered for each LDAS system.

        Numerous memory, network switches, cables, 19" equipment racks, and
UPS's have been ordered to support an initial installation of LDAS at
MIT, and to effectively integrate the large LDAS disk cache systems at
each site.

        A Gigabit Ethernet and video card have arrived for installation
in the new main LDAS software server at Caltech.

        A dual-processor data-conditioning server is now available in
the ldas-test system at Caltech.

Data Analysis Activities

Shawhan:

This week, besides working on the database MDC, I spent a significant
amount of time helping LSC institutions get LIGOtools working properly
on their computer systems and access LIGO data from the archive.  This
has led to a number of robustness improvements in the build process.
The trickiest problem had to do with data access from behind a firewall,
which prevented the server from notifying the client when the job was
done.  For this, I had to change the client-server communication
protocol.

General Computing (Wallace)

MIT:
-Moved/upgraded mailserver to 2.8 machine
-Removed Sun buggy snmp daemon(s) from all nodes
-Installed wrappers on some machines
-Searched for (and browsed) MIT computer policies
-Compiled list of used/unused ip addresses for our subnet

Livingston:
(Shannon and Tom)
-We have received six pallets of LDAS equipment, which we are
sorting out.
-We have received a Dell PC and a Sun Blade 100 for upgrades
for individual users.
-We are working on security issues concerning GC and CDS.

Hanford:
See Hanford Report.

CIT:
(Barbara)
- Began setting up the reports page for LDAS Equipment.  Added features to
track user name for adds and edits.  Reworked the authentication a bit.
- Rebooted pherkab and antares and got the backups working again.  Broke
the DCC's weekly compact/repair process into smaller pieces and it worked!
- Installed the new LDAS home page into the cgi/perl script.  Tested today
and will activate tomorrow.  Updated and installed the cgi/perl script for
LDCG contacts.
- Made numerous other changes to the LDAS site -- new software block
diagram, updates to many software diagram detail pages.
- Made a number of other web site changes -- LSC transparencies, travel
links and forms, pending LSC talks, accounts, ...
- Helped Ed C. import a spreadsheet into Access.
- Got my router at home working!

(Lisa)
-Did monthly backups.
-Began disabling SNMP services because of the security vulnerability.
-Installed Sol 8 on an Ultra2 and configured it as a DHCP server on the 125
subnet. This conflicted with the DHCP on the modem pool, so I reconfigured the
modem pool to use IP Pools to dole out numbers instead of DHCP.  The modem pool
can use an external DHCP server, but I think using the IP Pools will be more
fault tolerant.
-Installed a wireless access point in the basement.
-Tested win2k samba over wireless. This requires that the "Allow NetBIOS over
TCP/IP" be enabled under advanced TCP/IP settings.  Also, instructions for
enabling plaintext passwords for win2k are in the sys admin FAQ.
- I am looking for an old printer that supports HP-IB or GP-IB interface for
wilson house.  Models include the HP2225A thinkjet, 3630A paintjet and 2227
quietjet plus.  If anyone knows where one of these can be acquired, please let
me know.
-Worked with Ed Chargois to get another pile of surplus equipment out of here.
-Helped Jay with setting up a new win2k laptop for him. It is still having
p-card issues.
-I know there was more but I can't remember what.

(Suresh)
-Finally made new ES-2810 switch working. It was done by resetting it to
factory defaults and setting it up in stand-alone. I am still testing it. So far
the performance looks fine. The old 2810 has been shipped back to Marconi.
-Tracked down the network problem in Bridge Development Lab in second floor
bridge. It was a faulty hub sitting on the ceiling tiles.
-Modified the symbolic link so that the Matlab Release 12 is run when either
matlab is typed in command line or clicked on dropped down desktop menu.
-Installed ssh in system nunki, a 502 MHz Sun Blade 100 unit.

(Larry)
-Worked a few network issues. Also, worked with Gary and Lisa with the
wireless setup in the building. Gary has been having too much fun with
this one.
-Placing and tracking orders for just about every group here at CIT. Includes
computers, networking equipment, video equipment and software.
-Working a number of documentation issues with the rest of the system admin.
group working on LIGO.
-Equipment issues have been addressed this past week. There will be some changes
in the near future for checking out computer equipment. Removed a number of old
items. Working with SUN to get some old equipment traded in.
-Continued working on the performance tests of the new SUNBlade units.
The SUNBlade 100 is a cheap replacement for the Ultra 10 if any amount of cache
memory is not needed. Its performance is better until cache is needed and then
the Ultra 10 performs much better.
The SUNBlade 1000 so far has performed as expected but will not be a replacement
for the Ultra450 until the 4CPU unit comes out. It is a good dual CPU unit. All
of the SUNBlade units will only run under the latest version of Solaris 8. They
are suppose to be able to run under LINUX but we have not had the time to test
that out(not a high priority at this time).

(Bruce Sears)
- Ilog maintenance, additions, and development: (0.25 days)
        - Small amount of general maintenance.

(Sam)
Nothing to report but has returned from her travels.

LIGO II/Advanced R&D (Sanders)

From Bill Kells:
 

Also some considerations of the fabrication challenges of Sapphire.
This is shaping up to develope into the specifications for LIGO II.
 

From Peter King:
 

40m & LASTI PSL
The reference cavity vacuum chamber and parts for the vibration
isolation stack are currently being baked down in the PSL Lab, using the
vacuum chamber as the oven.
 

The Motorola MV162-242 IOCs ordered will hopefully be allowed to be
returned to Motorola to swap them for the MV162-PA242 IOC. Initially the
vendor said that the IOCs were too old and that they would not take them
back. CDS hitman Jay, was called in. Negotiations are apparently in
progress for their return.
 

From Peter King:
 

LASTI
===============================
- Additional power supplies for the suspensions have been ordered and should be
delivered to MIT by 4/15.
- The system drawings, rack layout and cross connect lists for the initial two
suspensions have been completed. Rus Wooley will build the cross connect harness
and ship to MIT. It should be complete by 4/15.
 
 
 

The custom VME backplanes have arrived.
 

For additional information about this report, contact sanders@ligo.caltech.edu