Weekly Report for Week Ending April 26, 2001


 Exec. Comm. Agenda
Highlights
LSC
Administration
Hanford Observatory
Livingston Observatory
MIT
Caltech
Detector
40 Meter
TNI
LASTI
Data Analysis
LIGO II/Adv. R&D
Past Weekly Reports

The LIGO Executive Committee Agenda for Monday  April 30, 2001 will be:

CANCELLED DUE TO NSF REVIEW


Special Announcements:


Weekly Report Highlights
 


LSC Issues (Weiss)


no report


LIGO I Construction/LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)



 

WBS 1.2 LIGO Operations--Administration



LIGO Weekly Site Telecon (Lindquist)

A site teleconference was held on Thursday, April 26, 2001.  Discussion included:

The next site telecon is scheduled for Thursday, May  3, 2001.  The list of current actions revised to reflect open actions assigned through April 26, 2001 may be found at ACTION LIST.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (Chargois)

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


DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner, Mak)

>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

From: Cleveland Mak <mak_c@ligo.caltech.edu>
Packages Faxes
In 29 28
Out 8 46

Press here to access the DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER WEB PAGE.


COST SCHEDULE CONTROL SYSTEMS (Cunningham, Brambila, Akutagawa, Kaufman)

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

Press here for ACCOUNTS PAYABLE HISTORY DATA.

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

From: Florence Kaufman <fkaufman@ligo.caltech.edu>

SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Petrac, Jasnow)

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

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

Support (Wood)

 
Dorothy Lloyd
  • 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 the week of April 16,  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.
  • Continued work on PO Log book update for the period February through March.
  • Jim continues with data entry in the LIGO database and also help out in the travel and DCC areas.
Rita Torres
  • Checking weekly for incoming LSC reports and plans, no reports this week.  Obtained Oracle requisition numbers for: Galli & Morelli, change order No. 12, and Syracuse U., change order No. 3.
  • Also obtained a requisition number for a PO with new subcontractor, High Precision Devices, Inc.  This vendor was selected to do the work for the Seismic Isolation Systems Mechanical Structure Prototype.  Thanks to D. Lloyd, who obtained the actual PO number, I was able to reference the that number on the contract and other documentation.
  • Obtained Sponsored Research signature on the quarterly progress report, then FedExed to the NSF, and distributed internally.  Placed more Pcard orders this week.  Updated site trips on the web.
Irene Baldon
  • Processed twenty-two (22) new trips (including Advance Checks written and hotel/car rental authorizations filled out and FAXed to appropriate vendors in various locations); fourteen (14) trips have been ticketed and are awaiting completion of necessary paper work; and twenty-four (24) trips are pending final approval before tickets can be issued and paper work done.  Once again I'm working with Ken Libbrecht on the 2001 SURF/LIGO travel.  Seven (7) trips have been completed, four (4) are ticketed and awaiting the completion of necessary paperwork, seven (7) are in the processing of flight approval and completion, making a total of eighteen (18) accounted for, and awaiting contact from the remaining students four (4) students.  There was a total of twenty-two (22) students accepted for this summer and they will be working at Caltech, Hanford and Livingston.
  • Completed nineteen (19) Expense Reports; Jim has twenty-three (23) that he is working on, and there are forty-four (44) to be done.  I'm holding three (3) reports that need a check from the traveler before processing and three (3) that have problems which require extensive work to complete.  I continue to train and supervise Jim on expense reports as best I can.
  • I reconciled forty-two (42) items on my P-Card, some of which needed additional work to contact vendor involved.  Assisted a few travelers with their reconciling and/or data entry.
  • Prepared the Travel/Vacation Itinerary for the Week of April 23, 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.
Elizabeth K. Wood
  • Continued with NSF Review preparations---catering, computer and peripheral availability, binders.  Lisa and Larry have been doing a wonderful job connecting room 114 WB to the LIGO network for the NSF Review committee’s use.
  • Attended the fortnightly meeting of LIGO and Caltech’s Immigration Department.  Things seem to moving in a more sensible manner these days now that Caltech has a full-time, fully devoted immigration staff.

Advanced LIGO (Frey, Petrac)

From: Thomas Frey <tfrey@ligo.caltech.edu>

Progress Period from 04.20 to 04.26

Accomplishments:

Schedule 04.27 to 05.03:

WBS 1.4.1.2   Project Controls (LIGO Construction)



Reports (Lindquist)

The end-of-February Quarterly Progess Report has been sent to the NSF.

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.



Change Control/Contingency (Lindquist)

The following Change Requests have been submitted:
 

CR-000018 WBS 1.1.4 Curbing for Service Roads at Livingston G. Stapfer
CR-000019 WBS 1.2 Additional Lab Equipment D. Coyne
CR-000020 WBS 1.1.4 Staging Building and Renovations to Existing Building--Livigston F. Asiri
CR-010001 WBS 1.1.4 Return of Unused Construction Budget to Contingency for Civil Construction F. Asiri
CR-010002 WBS 1.2.1.1.6-7 Return of Unused Construction Budget to Contingency for ISC Design S. Whitcomb
CR-010003 WBS 1.2.1.1.9 Return of Unused Construction Budget to Contingency for Detector Systems Engineering S. Whitcomb
CR-010004 WBS 1.2.3.1 Return of Unused Construction Budget to Contingency for Physics Environment Monitoring S. Whitcpomb

I have distributed copies of these Change Requests and tentatively scheduled a Change Control Board Tuesday, May 8, 2001 at 9am PDT.

Press for the latest Contingency Needs Projection.


COST SCHEDULE CONTROL SYSTEMS (Duncan, Akutagawa)

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

From: Cindy Akutagawa <cindy@ligo.caltech.edu> The financial reports on the web provide supporting detail.
http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport
http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~finance


SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Petrac, Jasnow)

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


Quality/Safety (Tyler)

>From: Bill Tyler <tyler@ligo.caltech.edu>


LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) Operations (Raab)


(D Cook)
 

        The  ETMx-4k was aligned this week to <8urad pitch and yaw angles while
maintaining the 50% open light voltage settings with their new OSEMs.  This
is the first optic to use a new a digital SUS controller. We integrated a
controller offsets adjustment into the alignment procedure. If the
controller pitch and yaw offsets have a value set, it is amplified through
the gains which in turn steers the optic. After making  adjustments to the
OSEM positions we then had to  re zero the controller pitch and yaw offsets
which get influenced by the OSEM changes, followed by a PAM screw
adjustment. At the point where the OSEM 50% open light values were no
longer affected by the smaller PAM screw changes we re zeroed the
controller pitch and yaw offsets(a very small offset change at this point
as the optic was ~ 20urads from its final pitch and yaw angles). At this
point we finished the alignment with the PAM screws to <8urads. The new
safety stops were  installed. The door was replace, but pumping was delayed
as we were wanting to monitor the optic and the controller during pumping.
Unfortunately the DAQ system is down for upgrades and is taking longer than
originally anticipated so it was decided to begin the pump down.
 

        We have set new monuments for a modified re-alignment procedure for the
ETMx-2k.  This is similar to process used on the Y-arm. We will replace the
OSEMs, safety stops and realign the optic. We hoped to close up by weeks
end and monitor the pumped down controller effects here.
 

        The ITMy-2k  was balanced Wed. Due to the suspension wire being too close
to the side magnet it was necessary to adjust the wire standoff
position. This was completed and is now ready for re balancing. It will go
into the vacuum bake oven on Friday. We will re suspend on Monday. Install
on Tuesday(BSC8). We will then pull the ITM x&y arm optical lever tables
out, install cleanroom etc.,vent and pull the spool pieces (WA-1A & WA-1B).
This follows the original IAS and COS alignment procedures.
 

        The 4k remains pumped down allowing the commissioning activities to begin
in parallel. The new 4k digital controllers and DAQ should be on-line for this.
 

        The 2k mode cleaner alignment is finishing up and seeing 'flashes'. The
mode matching telescope is aligned up to MMT3 and awaiting the COS
alignment to complete to process. The optical lever and 'transmitted and
'reflected' beams need to be steered out the view ports.
 
        The 2k alignment of the core optics, PO mirrors and telescopes and
components should be completed by 5/11/01 if all goes well. Replacing
vacuum components and pump down to follow. D. Coyne is currently updating
schedules.
 

        The ETMy-4k optic remains to be installed and these activities will
parallel the 2k final alignment tasks at a time when personnel and
equipment can be shared.
 


LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO) Operations (Coles)



 

CDS: The CDS server had a disk crash on Tuesday, and we have replaced the disk and recovered files from backup tapes.
GC:  Although we've been occupied with the CDS problem, the changeover from our old web server to our new server has also been going on in the background, and is now essentially complete. During the changeover both the old and the new servers were running, but now the server software on abundance has been turned off, and the only GC server running is www.ligo-la.caltech.edu. There are two possible problems we may see at this point. If anyone has in the past saved a bookmark to one of our web pages, and that bookmark specified abundance.ligo-la.caltech.edu, it will now be necessary to edit the bookmark (or make another one) to www.ligo-la.caltech.edu. The directory structures should not have changed, so the only thing necessary should be to change "abundance" to "www".Also, if there are any links on the server which point to abundance, they will need to be changed to www. We will be running some software to look for these broken links, but if anyone finds one, please let me know. (Tom Evans)

Operations: We have prepared a detailed schedule of activities that are being undertaken prior to E4, so that we will be ready to vent immediately following the conclusion of the run. We are now carrying out this list of activities. Operators are continuing control room operations plus getting ready for the up-coming vent. The first of four clean rooms to be used is now over HAM1, the labs have been cleaned and the end stations are being cleaned. Vac-bake support for the 40 meter has been completed for now, we are currently baking equipment and tooling for LLO use during the vent period. The E-4 operator schedule has been
posted. (Rich Riesen)

Optics: Used the X-Pickoff beam to monitor the internal power level of the PRM. Although we are using a large element PD, it turns out the beam was still too large for it. We reduced the beam by placing a lens before the PD and measuring the power levels both with the PD and with a brand new OPHIR power meter. We measured the output beam jitter of the mode cleaner using a quadcell on IOT1. We also measured the transmitted power spectrum. We then repeated the measurement using older damping settings. There is not much difference except in yaw of the beam which is better in the old settings. Analyzed the radius of curvature measured for a 1.06 micron beam with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor at the symmetric port. Had a housekeeping party in the vacuum prep and optics labs, in preparation for optics rework when we open. (Jonathan Kern)

PEM: PEM microphones are now installed at both end stations. I am still waiting on the extension cable for the fluxgate magnetometer in the LVEA, however I did get the mounting brackets. I plan to make another audit of the accelerometers by the end of the week to determine which are working and which need to be replaced. I have also reclaimed the accelerometer channels at each end station. The seismometers, tiltmeters, and voltage monitors are performing nominally. (Doug Lormand)

Outreach: Project Plato spent the day @ LIGO Livingston. Project Plato is an LSU sponsored in-service program for high school science teachers from all across southern Louisiana. It focuses on improving science education for high school students. The workshop not only allowed teacher to share science projects and lessons that have been successful with their classes but they were also able to learn new ideas and information to take back with them. We gave them a tour of our facility, held a demonstration of a hands on science project (polarization of light), and treated them to some good food. (Bonnie Wascom)
 


Detector/Technical Support (Whitcomb, Coyne)


 
Installation& Commissioning:

Hanford
Livingston

Other Science/EngineeringActivities:

Design/Analysis/Fab
Issues/Concerns

See also the daily electronic logs for the installation and commissioning activities:

Hanford Detector Log

Livingston Detector Log

See also the Installation web page

1.1 LHO INSTALLATION & COMMISSIONING

Earthquake repairs

Dennis Coyne reporting

4-k IOO

Dennis Coyne reporting

The small optics suffered mis-alignments on the order of 0.5 mrad during pumpdown, which may be due to static charge/discharge; The effect is being investigated. (see details). Dave Ottaway was able to recover the mode cleaner alignment (technique and performance described here and lock the mode cleaner.

Digital Suspension Controllers (DSC)

Dennis Coyne reporting

Rolf, Jay and Richard have installed the digital suspension controllers for the 4 km interferometer at the vertex. Although the configuration is not complete (both hardware and software elements are missing) and much testing and remains to be done, both small and large optics have been damped by the DSC and the MC has been locked using the DSC.

Data Acquisition (DAQ)

Dennis Coyne reporting

Associated with the transition to the digital suspension controls, Rolf and Dave Barker modified the DAQ configuration extensively: replaced RFM units in the DAQ controller and frame builders (fb0, fb2); reconfigured the reflective memory for the 2 km and 4 km systems; replaced the 4 km PEM ADCU with a Pentium; and attempted to upgrade the frame builders (fb0, fb2) to Solaris 8. The operating system upgrade didn’t work, so the system is being restored to the original environment.

1.2LLO INSTALLATION & COMMISSIONING

Commissioning

Rai Weiss, et al.

A calibration of the single cavity displacement sensitivity against the

microseismic peak measured on the GURALP seismometers has been

successfully completed. 

Electronics was completed to provide measurements of the sideband

amplitudes at twice the RF modulation frequency. The signals are required

during the acquisition of the recycled Fabry-Perot/Michelson

interferometer.

The transitional state of the interferometer with the recycled Michelson

and a single arm locked together was acquired.

The disk on the main CDS computer (LLO1) crashed this week. This is the

same disk that had crashed about 4 months ago. Some but not all of the

information on this disk had been backed up on other disks and all files

had been backed up on tape in March. The restoration is still in process.

This disk, since it is critical to all operations of the interferometer, 

needs a better back up system. We are asking for a large

reliable and redundant backup disk that can take all the files. We

will also institute a regular backup on tape weekly.

E4

Szabi Marka

The E4 HomePage is available at http://blue.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/engrun/E4/. Timely information will become available as we approach run.

2.0 OtherEngineering and Scientific Activities

2.1 Design/Analysis/Fab

Input Optics Spares

GariLynn Billingsley

Pre coating measurement of SPETM08 is going slowly due to thermal difficulties.  We are readjusting the setpoints in the metrology lab since they have switched from heating to cooling in Lauritsen.  The building runs about a half degree cooler on the cooling system.

PSL

Peter King, Lee Cardenas

We have been putting the latest 10-W laser through its

paces.  The beam propagation before, and after, the installation of the

phase-correcting Pockels cell was measured.  The relative intensity noise

of the laser and the master oscillator was measured.

The intensity noise of the 10-W laser was pretty much the same as previous

lasers, although now there's a small broad peak around 25 kHz, that has never

been observed in previous lasers.  The intensity of the master oscillator

was quieter than before.  Above 1 kHz, it is around -140 dB/Sqrt[Hz].

The phase-correcting Pockels cell was installed and the laser was

re-aligned.  At the moment, the free-space beam propagation and M-squared

are being measured.  The output of the laser is 11.3 W, as measured by a

Scientech calorimeter.

Rick Karwoski, Paul Russell

· Intensity stabilization. We have had a very constructive week.

1. The main ISS board was stuffed, bench tested and calibrated at Bridge Lab
2. We now have all ISS prototype electronics set up in the Lauritsen lab.
3. We have injected single-frequency signals through the CurrentShunt/Laser /PD/pre- amp (Inner Plant) electronics: Verifying signal fidelity and dynamic range. We are running about 3mw of light on the detector.
4. We have run frequency response tests on the Inner Plant to verify consistency with our previous experiments and the simulation model.
5. We have calibrated the Inner Plant gains in preparation for initial loop closure.

At this point everything is in good agreement with the earlier tests and consistent with the simulations. We note that with the new laser and new electronics there is a slightly extended frequency response.  The implication is tighter loop closure and better suppression than predicted at higher frequencies.

Tomorrow, barring any unforeseens, we will set up the main servo and close the servo around the PMC light:

1. The shelving network turnover frequency will be set to line up with the Laser pole
2.The allowable position gain for an acceptable phase margin will be determined from the new Inner Plant response measurements.  The gain will be noted, and with the loop closed, dialed into the servo electronics.
3. Once the position loop stability/performance has been validated, shelving gain will be added to further suppress the noise in the 40-150 Hzish area.

If all goes as planned we will be evaluating noise suppression performance at the PMC light sensor point this week.

Photo-Detector issues  There has been a growing concern about the uncertain availability of C30642 photo diodes.  I have located a source for the part.  In anticipation of the upcoming PD builds we will be placing an order for at least 50 pieces.

Ben Abbott

The intensity servo DC photodiode board is stuffed, in an enclosure, and undergoing tests currently.  Initial measurements look encouraging.

Earthquake Early Warning

Szabi Marka

I set up an automatic system to provide timely warning about potentially

disturbing earthquakes from around the word. The present system reports

Magnitude 5+ quakes occurring anywhere around the word and it reports

M3+ quakes from North-America. The EQ warning conveniently pops up on

the top of the Coincident

Seismic Activity Indicator (CSAI) page

(http://blue.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/gds/TriNet/) whenever a report is

issued. Detailed info about the EQ is provided and ultimately precise

arrival time to LIGO sites will be reported (presently it takes couple

of clicks to get these through

http://geohazards.cr.usgs.gov/tt/compute_tt.html). The ultimate goal is

to provide timely (preferable pre-arrival) warning to control room

operators/scientists, which allows preemptive actions (e.g. change mode

to preserve lock etc.). The local phase-arrival times will also be

logged in the LDAS database and utilizing the control room alarm screens

is planned.

The present system is experimental but it is already useful. Presently

reported EQs stick until the next report comes, to show the

functionality. Later the lifetime of the displayed warning will be

decreased to hours.

GDS

Daniel Sigg

Ligo Data Access (Lidax)

- Implemented launching of DMT monitors prior of loading data.

- Implemented support for tape robots (Cybernetics TL-8).

- Implemented email notification when done.

- Tracked down several memory leaks.

This essentially completes the feature list of Lidax. Further work

is needed in testing and documentation. 

Frame broadcaster

- Replaced the gigabit ethernet board with a different brand. The old

  board only supported drivers for Solaris 2.6.


40 Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)




Thermal Noise Interferometer (Libbrecht)



 
 

        Last week's LED problems in the OSEMs turned out to be a relatively minor
problem -- two bent pins in an old connector outside the vacuum chamber --
which was easily corrected.  We subsequently closed the vacuum chamber and
pumped down to the 10^-6 torr range.  After re-optimizing the mode cleaner
alignment to compensate for the introduction of a window in the beam path,
we locked the mode cleaner using three SR560's and one high-voltage
amplifier, the same configuration we had been using to lock it in air.
With the chamber down and the mode cleaner locked under vacuum, we still
see transmission through both our arm cavities, and we are pleased to
report that this alignment survived the pump-down.
 

        The mode cleaner control topology, designed this summer, was tested this
week.  We had designed a unity gain frequency of 80-90 kHz, but with the
new laser in place we were able to obtain a robust and stable control with
only a ugf of ~40 kHz.  We are presently working to increase the bandwidth
back to 80-90 kHz before fully characterizing the mode cleaner.
 

        About two weeks ago, when we first aligned the North arm cavity, we tried
to observe an error signal from that cavity with the mode cleaner locked
and the arm-cavity mirrors locally damped.  At the time the whole system
was in air, and the beam transmitted through the mode cleaner was not
stable enough for us to observe an error signal in the arm cavity.  Now
that the system is under vacuum, the mode cleaner's transmitted beam is
much more stable, and we are able to observe an error signal in an arm
cavity without difficulty.  We measured the amount of time the arm cavity
spent on resonance for a typical flash and found that to be about 80
microseconds, which indicates we need a servo bandwidth of at least 12kHz
for reliable lock acquisition of the test cavities.  This is a relatively
modest requirement, but it was beyond the capacity of a set of
strung-together SR560's.  We needed in one stage a high-pass filter with a
pole at 100kHz for effective lead compensation, and SR560's are unable to
produce a high-pass filter with a pole above 10kHz.  We tried locking with
a reduced bandwidth but, not surprisingly, didn't have any success.  The
next step is to build the required filter out of resistors and capacitors
and see if we can acquire test-cavity lock with an actual 12kHz bandwidth
servo.
 

        This week began with a measurement of the seismic stack transfer function
while the system was in air.  We were able to set up two accelerometers
(axis parallel to cavities), one placed on one of the chamber's legs and
the other on the optical bench on top of the stack.  To excite the chamber
we used a loud speaker whose woofer was attached to one of the chamber's
legs.  We were able to see signals on both accelerometers down to 10 Hz
with this arrangement.  To see a signal at lower frequencies, we increased
the voltage level and blew the speaker. There was no time left to replace
the speaker, so we closed the chamber and pumped down. This measurement
will be continued once we vent again.  We'd like to thank Riccardo and
Virginio for their help.
 

        Finally, Crystal Systems gave us notice that our order for sapphire optics
would be delayed four months, from late May to late September.  This
doesn't impact the TNI schedule too badly, provided Crystal Systems really
does deliver in September, and there are no further problems (e.g. with the
coatings).  It does, however, beg the question -- if it takes a year to
produce four 10-cm-diameter sapphire optics, how long will it take to
produce a dozen 30-cm optics?
 


LASTI (Zucker)


HAM 21 Cleanroom
The cleanroom located over HAM 21 has been fully assembled this week.
The curtains have been installed, the lights and filters have been
installed and are operating.
 

BSC Cleanroom
The BSC cleanroom installation is scheduled to begin on 5/1/01. We are
coordinating with the fabricator and a riggor so that when the
fabricated sections arrive, the riggor will be here to remove it from
the truck and position the sections.
 

Delivery schedule:
BSC clean room weldments                 5/1/01
guardrail fittings and hardware             at MIT
guardrail piping                                   4/27/01
filter/ blower units                               at MIT
light fixtures                                         5/15/01
clean room curtains                              4/27/01
 

Burlington C4 clean room fabric has been ordered and is scheduled for
delivery on 4/30/01. The material will be used to make the skirt which
goes from the cleanroom to the BSC dome and for covers to go over the
large flanges when the BSC chamber is split.
 

Cartridge Cleanroom
The cartridge cleanroom has been designed and is on order. Its delivery
is scheduled for 5/15/01. The side curtains and top sheet are on order
and also is scheduled to be delivered on 5/15/01.
 

The cartridge cleanroom is needed when the BSC dome is removed during
installation of the seismic support beams.
 

Other
Installation of the BSC seismic support structure is scheduled to begin
the week of 5/15/01.
The LASTI high bay area has been cleaned and waxed this past week.
We have met with Horn Packaging to build a custom crate for shipment of
the prototype STIFF seismic isolation system to Stanford. Shipment is
scheduled for the week of 5/7/01
 
 

LASTI Modeling and Noise Prediction (Gregg Harry)
-------------------------------------------------------
I am working on including some new noise sources in the LASTI noise
code.  I am working on the doppler shift noise from having the Faraday
isolator and other optics directly on the seismic table, rather than
hanging below suspensions.  I also came up with a list of noise modeling
that needs to be done.


Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)



 
 

Simulation and Modeling (Bhawal)

Lock acquisition Studies
------------------------
(Biplab) Matt and I went to discuss with Tom Gottschalk (of the Hrothgar project
of Caltech) about the analytical calculations of the lock acquisition time.
Worked out some simple cases.

Dual Recycling summation cavity
-------------------------------
Malik Rakhmanov of Florida University visited Caltech last week, and updated his
calculation of the dual recycled Michelson summation cavity field evolution. He
wrote a matlab code with the following features: (1) only scalar field,
(2) purely addiabatic approximation, (3) only carrier. Hiro and Malik validated
some results by comparing with the e2e calculation using primitive mirrors.

Pre Stabilised Laser
--------------------
(Biplab) Improved the manuscript on Frequency sensor noise. Working on producing
a table providing information about noise levels for different cases of
nonuniformities in RFPD.

Code Maintenance & Validation
-----------------------------
(Biplab) Fixed a bug in Cavity sum module which was giving wrong results in
certain cases of misalignments when the coated side of the end mirror was
facing outside.

E2E at CACR
-----------
(Ed Maros) Finished Copy functionality of jobber (a program to submit jobs
remotely to the V2500 systems).

Alfi
----
(Bruce) Finished writing of test and completion of testing of Parameter
Settings Dialogs.
Working on implementation of connection junctions.

LIGO Data Analysis System

  • Software Systems (Blackburn)

  •  

     

    The FrameCPP library was upgraded this week to support writing of frames
    files with multiple frames in each file and frames of arbitrary length in
    time duration. These changes are being fitted into the framebuilder code
    at the sites.

    New database table designs were placed into service this week at all LDAS
    database installations. Test scripts for these new tables are being upgraded
    and verified in conjunction with this change.

    The LDAS system can now capture "state" information from a LAL search code
    running within the wrapperAPI and reuse it in a subsequent wrapperAPI job.
    This has been tested and involves the wrapperAPI, eventMonitorAPI, mpiAPI,
    and dataConditionAPI working together.

    The new dbAccess library which learns of the LDAS database table design by
    reading the SQL schema used to generate the tables is now in place and has
    been fully integrated into the wrapperAPI/dataConditionAPI code modules.
    The integration into the eventMonitorAPI is under way.

    A new document on the "how to build ldas" webpage is being prepared which
    provides instructions for building a stand alone version of the wrapperAPI
    for the purpose of initial development of search codes by the LSC.

    The FCT search code is now working under the wrapperAPI and has successfully
    been run as an LDAS wrapperAPI job on the LDAS development beowulf cluster.

    We have migrated to the new version of LAM (5.6.1) on the LDAS systems. The
    wrapperAPI will be modified to use the *now* working C++ exception handling
    capabilities of this release in time for the next MDC.

    The wrapperAPI has been modified to use the recently agreed upon time and
    frequency metadata for data sequences. There is a chance that some minor
    changes may still be in the works for these but they will involve very
    small changes if needed at the request of the LSC.

    The frameAPI has been enhanced and tested to support multiple frame in a
    single frame file and to support frames of arbitrary time duration as well.

    Development of the new dataPipeline command to be used to drive the LDAS
    system in the upcoming inspiral MDC are under way and will be the focus
    of development activities and testing for the next week.

    The new T3 "purple brick" disk drives installed at Hanford have resulted
    in a 40% increase in our database insertion rate performance, proving the
    earlier speculation that much of our limits are associated with file I/O
    performance in the metaDataAPI tests.

    We are currently testing a significant upgrade in the required development
    tools (gcc, tcl, linux kernel, curl, swig) for LDAS. So far we have been
    able to identify that the new swig will not work and the new curl causes
    a minor html test to fail. All other components seem to work well with
    LDAS source code. But further testing is needed.

    Significant modifications to the dataConditionAPI's metadata are now under
    way. These will effect the time and frequency sequence attributes presented
    to the wrapperAPI and are in line with the wrapperAPI baseline requirements.
    In addition to these changes, new test code is being developed to validate
    the new metadata standards.

  • Hardware Systems (Anderson)

  •  

     

    LHO: 14TB of disk have been successfully installed. 1TB of this
    is in active use by the LDAS database and software server, however,
    the bulk of the storage is scheduled for several weeks of performance
    testing before being integrated into the system as the main frame archive.

    CIT: 6TB of disk have been successfully installed in the ldas-dev and
    ldas-test systems. The ldas-test system is now operating with its database
    and software server using this hardware RAID system. The ldas-dev system
    has not yet been integrated.

    LLO: 8TB of disk have been delivered and are scheduled for installation
    next week, from May 2 through May 4. It is expected that LDAS at LLO
    will be unavilable until Tuesday May 8 as the new storage systems
    are integrated.

    The LHO and CIT LDAS sites now have a low-bandwidth administrative
    network (10BaseT) for managing the new storage devices as well as
    network switches and UPS's. A Sun Blade100 has been installed to manage
    these administrative functions as well as security and backup tasks.

    Partial orders for the LDAS Engineering run Beowulf clusters have been
    placed (LHO mutli-processor servers).

  • Data Analysis Activities
  • [Vicere']

    Data analysis: had contacts with the VIRGO analysis group concerning the development of software for CB detection. I shall participate to a coming phone meeting dealing with technical issues in this respect, to keep up-to-date in view of the network analysis.

    [Charlton/Wen]

    * Updated FCT and FCT interface to be "correct" for LAL's compiler flags.
    Last week Alan Wiseman sent me a checklist for putting code into LAL,
    which specified a lot of extra compiler flags which are *not* used by
    default when building LDAS, but are used when the LAL group
    builds. Previously I had been using only the default build options.
    With these options the compiler enforces ANSI C and emitted many warnings
    and a couple of errors on the FCT (both interface and FCT engine).
    It also broke the FCT engine (caused it to produce garbage results
    such as not-a-number) because certain functions used in the engine
    are not present in ANSI C, notably the rounding function rint() - see my
    bug report on the FCT problem report page. Since rint() is only used in
    one line of the FCT, I replaced it by the process of adding 0.5 and
    copying to a long int ie.

            double x;
            long int a;
     
            a = (x + 0.5); /* round to nearest int */

    This is equivalent to rint() for non-negative reals.

    * Fixed up the remaining warnings and errors

    * Provided a new, very simple test called integ_test.c (for "integrity
    test") that performs a "small" FCT with a phase function chosen so that
    phi(1) != 1 (to avoid systematic errors in that special case) and writes
    the output as text to a file. The actual text file is checked in to CVS.
    When 'make check' is run, another copy of that file is produced and
    compared against the original version. If the files differ the test is
    deemed to have failed - the developer should examine the differences and
    ascertain whether the difference is because of an error or if it's just a
    minor numerical difference (I found that the results from optimising
    with -O3 were a little different from -O2, for instance). If the
    "new" output is now the correct one, it should be put into CVS over the
    old one.

    * Provided a target for checking memory leaks using ccmalloc. FCT doesn't
    leak, although some library functions do eg. printf()

    * Checked FCT and interface into LAL on Monday.

    General Computing (Wallace)


    MIT:
    (Keith)
    -Made my way through MIT purchasing / justification process for:
      laptops
      backup hdds
      raid disk array
      scsi host adapters
    -Continued to search for reasonable quotes for cluster.
    Should be receiving a new set of quotes for the AMD machines
    from Larry this next week.
    -Adjusted allowed relay domains for email
    -Installed aide (tripwire) on several more nodes
    -Fixed intermittent printer bug (due in part to high
     speed machines on slow network)

    Livingston:

    -The CDS server had a disk crash on Tuesday, and we have replaced
    the disk and recovered files from backup tapes.
    -Waiting for quotes from cisco on a PIX system.
    -Although we've been occupied with the CDS problem, the changeover
    from our old web server to our new server has also been going on
    in the background, and is now essentially complete. During the
    changeover both the old and the new servers were running, but now
    the server software on abundance has been turned off, and the only
    GC server running is www.ligo-la.caltech.edu.
    There are two possible problems we may see at this point. If anyone
    has in the past saved a bookmark to one of our web pages, and that
    bookmark specified abundance.ligo-la.caltech.edu, it will now be
    necessary to edit the bookmark (or make another one) to
    www.ligo-la.caltech.edu. The directory structures should not have
    changed, so the only thing necessary should be to change "abundance"
    to "www".
    Also, if there are any links on the server which point to abundance,
    they will need to be changed to www. We will be running some software
    to look for these broken links, but if anyone finds one, please let
    me know.

    Hanford:
    (See Hanford Site weekly report)

    CIT:
    (Lisa)
    - We had a sunblade100 that would get into a infinite reboot loop.  Worked with
    Larry and sun hardware technician to resolve that.  Ultimately, the problem was
    fixed by installing the OS off the h/w environment CD.  But the problem showed
    up before the OS was re-installed.  So the original problem could have been
    hardware or a faulty OS from Sun.
    - Moved the dhcp server for the 125 subnet into the server room.  Enabled the
    dhcp startup and shutdown scripts.
    - Brought the NIS+ tables completely up-to-date for all dhcp and modem pool IP
    numbers.
    - put up a couple of web pages with more helpful info.
    - Worked with Dennis Ugolini to setup 2 monitors on a sunblade 100.
    - Rebuilt 2 pc's and the sunblade 100.  All of these machines have been pushed
    out to visitor cubes that had no computer.
    - Worked with Larry to test out the new Orinoco Access Point.  We will be using
    this to support the NSF review next week.
    - Created a group, shared directory, mailing list and accounts to support the
    40meter.
    - Helped out some EE people with cadence.
    - Put up a new laptop for Riccardo.
    - Moved really a lot of equipment around.

    (Sam)
    Nothing to report.

    (Barbara)
    - Installed new version of costbook database and web forms with latest
    round of changes.
    - Developed a search tool for publications based on Pubs database rather
    than the DCC.  Updated publications web pages to use a template.
    - Added a document number search to the DCC Log search tool.  But after
    some discussion, Linda and I decided that browsing by category is probably
    better.  That is a quick change that can be done soon.
    - Updated PubDocs.  Posted LSC talks.  Updated NSF transparency web page
    with official  links now that the documents have been processed.
    - Recovered the weekly compact job.  I was able to show that WebBase server
    does not fully release the database when the server is shut down.  So I'll
    contact the vendor to see if they know of a workaround.  But when I
    submitted the compact job by hand, TimeTarget ran it 3 times.  This job is
    just jinxed.  So I've deleted the job altogether and will reenter it into
    the Time Target database.
    - Reviewed the LDAS hardware block diagrams that I'll be working on next.

    (Larry)
    -Tracking down a number of procurements. Reworking a couple for the LDAS group.
    -Interviewed a couple of people to assist in the Sys. Admin. group. One has been
    passed on to be interviewed by Albert.
    -Took care of a couple of printer problems. Most were just maintenance issues
    where the printer needed some parts replaced.
    -Spent a day observing the LDAS installation of their new T3 units.
    -Took care of a number of accounts and e-mail alias issues.
    -Working on the preparations and setup for the NSF review.
    -Reviewed a number of financial plan issues concerning future GC procurements.
     


    LIGO II/Advanced R&D (Sanders)


    From: Helena Armandula <ahelena@ligo.caltech.edu>

    Silicate bonding:
    5 sapphire/sapphire sodium silicate bonds are in process.  .
    These bonded sapphire substrates are for R.DeSalvo to test in cryogenic experiments.

    Peter King
     

    2.2 40m Lab & LASTI
    I have been trying to chase up the deal about returning the
    Motorola MV162 IOCs so that we can return them for a swap. Due to some
    weird mix up, the vendor is apparently trying to get some confirmation from
    Motorola about their status. This should be resolved by the end of this
    week, or so I was told.
    The mirror mount adapters for the gimbal/beamsplitter mirror mounts have
    come back from the Physics workshop. The other mirror mount adapters for
    the Newport U100 are near completion.
    The second bake load of the remaining vibration isolation stack components
    was completed by Lee. The next bake load will be the pre-modecleaner
    bodies.
     

    2.3 LIGO II PSL
    I gave Thomas Frey the LIGO II laser cost and schedule data that I
    had at the time. I have finally re-worked the schedule to fit into our WBS
    structure and match the one that Benno gave me back in February, but there
    is some problem with the duration dates - which is probably something
    related to me not choosing some date option in Microsoft Project.
    Currently I'm getting data together for costing the laser, as opposed to
    the PSL. The current cost of the PSL is based on a $350k estimate for the
    laser, which is grossly undervalued. The cost of the pump laser diodes
    alone is well over this amount. The costing for the laser is largely
    complete, only the cost of the Nd:YAG gain media and diode coupling fibers
    needs to be obtained. I have estimated the VME controls costs. The last
    part of the cost estimate that is missing is the cost of the hardware for
    building the cross connects and instrument rack.
     

    From: Riccardo DeSalvo <desalvo@ligo.caltech.edu>

    Alessandro still is in Japan helping Akiteru.
     

    The digital electronics has been delivered in Hongo.
     

    Hongo crew
    Mounted the suspension on the second tower and working on its
    actuators.  The second tower is now practically completed, including all
    IP sensor and actuators.
    The first suspension has been extracted from the tower for replacing of
    the temporary wires with the final ones.  It will also be equipped with
    the actuators and bench tested for transfer functions in parallel with
    the tests on the full second tower.
     

    Edwin,
    Working on DAQ
     

    Riccardo
    Assembled one test Penn State MGAS blade on a temporary test jig.
    Started contract with Faimond for test ultrasound cutting of Sapphire.
    Still no bid (promised) for the same job from Sonic mill.
     

    Fred
    Working on thermal behavior of flex  joints.
     


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