Weekly Report for Week Ending August 9, 2001

The LIGO Executive Committee Agenda for Monday  August 13, 2001 will be:

 CANCELLED DUE TO LSC MEETING

Special Announcements:

The National Science Board, the presidential appointees who have authority over NSF, met and voted to approve the LIGO Laboratory operating program for the next 5 years (2002 - 2006). This is the culmination of the extensive review of the proposal submitted by the Laboratory last December, and coordinated with the LSC program. As you may recall, our proposal was carefully reviewed last January and February in reviews held at Caltech and Hanford.

Everyone who contributed to this proposal and review process should be rightly proud of this positive step. Congratulations to all.

GHS

Weekly Report Highlights
 

LSC Issues (Weiss)

no report

LIGO I Construction/LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

WBS 1.2 LIGO Operations--Administration

There was no teleconference this week.

The list of current actions revised to reflect the status of open actions assigned through August 2, 2001 may be found at ACTION LIST.

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

• Assisted the Systems Administrator (L. Wallace) with the packing and shipping of a Video Inter connector to MIT (K. Bayer) via Federal Express. Account Number P182414.
• Assisted the Optics Engineer (H.Armandula) with the packing and shipping of a GEO Test Mass (Optic) to Stanford University (Dr. S. Rowan) via Federal Express. Account Number
• P1822449.
• Assisted the Systems Administrator with the packing and shipping of a Sony Video Camera Serial Number 155738 Model EVI-D30 to the LHO (C. Patton) via Federal Express. Account Number P182414.
• Assisted the DCC Administrator (L.Turner) with the packing and shipping a Laptop Computer and DDC Special Material to the LHO (J. Berry) in support of the LSC .Account Number P182442.

>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

• Processed and distributed two DCNs.
• Worked on the organization for the upcoming LSC documentation.
• Worked up a procedure for converting to electronic files and archived on CD, all account charges and closed contracts that are now stored in DCC storage.  Completion of this project will eliminate about 22 storage boxes of paper.  Ed Jasnow checked with Accounting and Audit to ensure that this was acceptable and they have authorized destruction of all paper copies once the scanning and electronic capture is complete.

ACTIVITY

• Activity has picked up again this week for electronic document processing
• Progress continues for auditing PSI drawings.
• More time was spent re-organizing to accommodate new files.

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>

• Finished transferring the remaining of the expenditure type changes requested by Cindy from regular Equipment to LIGO Equipment.
• Set up the FY2002 blankets to AT & T for Donna.
• Continue to close out FY2001 Po's.
• Completed and finalized the lease agreement for the rental property.
• Changing the forms to be used on the TRIAD TSEP agreement..

• Operations reports for July 2001 are substantially complete but have not been issued as yet pending receipt of information regarding Joy Fan repairs and Open Encumbrance in the Detector Group.
• Completed and sent out report for Visitor Program as of July to Donna.
• Prepared an analysis of the projected under spend of the Operations budgets as of July 2001.
• Attended meeting with members of LIGO staff.

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

• RFP for LIGO VME ADC: Release of the solicitation is pending Project's approval.
• CSIRO: CO No. 10 for re-polishing of two Beam Splitter substrates was released to Purchasing.

• The laser safety system is now being installed at Livingston.  The work is being done by Metropolitan, manufacturer of the system, subcontracting the electrical work to Excel, who has previously done expensive work on the site.  The Hanford installation is awaiting the completion of some preparatory work which must be performed before installation can begin.

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 July 30.
• Continue to monitor contract and blanket order encumbrance and notify task managers when supplements are needed.
• Jim continues with data entry in the LIGO database and supports Irene (travel) in the mornings and Linda and Cleveland (DCC) in the afternoons.
Rita Torres
Formatted incoming report from Dominguez Hills, and Attachment D from GEO.  Both documents are now in review.  Awaiting two more concurrence signatures from the sites so that I can file the official LIGO Vehicle Usage Policy with the DCC.
• Arranged exit eye exams for later in the month.  Revised the arrangement with AT&T for the teleconference of 8/10/01.
• Placed several Pcard orders.  Reconciled several orders after chasing down the invoices.  Followed up on long-lead items.  Called various vendors as I tried to locate a hard to find part.  Did site trip updates
Irene Baldon
• Processed the paper work for nine (9) new trips (including Advance Checks written and hotel/car rental authorizations filled out and Faxed to appropriate vendors in various locations).  I have five (5) trips ticketed awaiting the necessary paper work and sixteen (16) trips in various stages of completion before ticketing can be done.  Worked on several trips that were changed or modified and assisted several more travelers with questions regarding their existing or potential travel.
• I worked on two (2) that were problems and clarified a few more that Travel Audit or the traveler were having trouble with.  I completed twenty-seven (27) reports and there are thirty-seven (37) reports to be done.  I'm holding two (2) reports that need a check and one (1) that needs an Transaction Report from the traveler before submitting.
• Reconciled thirty-three (33) items on my P-Card which required telephone calls to vendors who do not enter the traveler's name on their charges.  Assisted a few travelers with their reconciling and/or data entry.
• Worked on the preparation and distribution of the Travel/Vacation Itinerary for August 6, 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
Caltech’s administrative group had its first group meeting this week.  The most important topic that needs to be relayed to everyone in LIGO is: When you purchase any equipment with a total cost of $5000 or more, please let Ed Chargois know.  Some of us have a pcard daily limit of over $5000.  If you have purchased equipment with your pcard with a total cost of $5000 or more, Ed needs to know.

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Advanced LIGO (Frey)

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

Progress Period from 08.03 to 08.09

Accomplishments:

• Weekly Advanced LIGO Project Controls meeting not held this week due to schedule conflicts, LSC, and vacations.
• Advanced LIGO MRE Proposal (Highest Priority)
• Continuing the development of the Cost Estimate.
• Continue to pursue all other sub system schedules.
• Updated web site with latest schedule for meetings.
• The following is a summary of status by sub system:
1. COC - Work on action items per second review continues.
2. PSL - Work on action items per second review continues.  Next step is for Peter King to complete BOE and for management to scrub / determine funding sources.  Issued meeting minutes.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
3. AOS - Wrapping up schedule changes and added cost sheets.  Action items for others are still outstanding.  Second review is scheduled for August 20th at 9am at LSCR.
4. IO - Updated meeting minutes with current progress.  Work has been in progress regarding changes to cost items and schedule.  Second Review is scheduled for August 24th at 9:35am at LSCR.
5. SUS - Continuation of second review is scheduled for Friday September 7th at 9am.  Work on action items per second review continues.
6. SEI - Issued meeting minutes.  Efforts have started on action items.  Next review date has yet to be scheduled.  Sent copy of all notes on the 11x17 sheets to Joe Giame at LLO.
7. All other subsystems have yet to be scheduled for their first review.  These dates are pending per direction from Gary Sanders and Dennis Coyne.
• Continue to update the TNI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Nothing new to report.
• Continue to update the LASTI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Nothing new to report.
• Project Plan for the 40-Meter Lab Upgrade continues.
• Nothing new to report.
• Continue to test the Cost Book Tool.
• Continue to work with BK executing current action items.
• Working on BOE table and Detailed Task table.
• Mapping and formatting of OPS cost data for input on hold pending additional changes to budget data per NSF re-submit.
• 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
Schedule 08.10 to 08.16:
• Next weekly Advanced LIGO Project Controls meeting scheduled for August 20th at 9am at Small SCR.  Focus of the meeting will be the AOS Second MRE Cost and Schedule Review.
• Advanced LIGO MRE Proposal (Highest Priority Task)
• Highest priority is the development of the Cost Estimate.
• Will continue to pursue all other sub system schedules.
• Continue to input data per comments from Dennis Coyne in preparation for next meeting TBD.
• Finish input of changes to the AOS cost and schedule per review meeting.
• Finish input of changes to the IO schedule per comments of review meeting.
• Continue inputting changes to SUS and prepare for next meeting scheduled for September 7th.
• Continue inputting changes to SEI and prepare for next meeting TBD.
• Will follow up with Garilynn B. regarding status of COC cost and schedule.
• Will import cost data and complete schedule integration.
• Will Continue to update the TNI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 08.17.01 and  post to site by the 21st.
• Will Continue to update the LASTI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 08.17.01 and  post to site by the 21st.
• Will continue updating the 40 meter schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 08.17.01 and  post to site by the 21st.
• Cost Book Tool development continues.  (Highest Priority Task)
• Will continue ops cost data input.
• Will continue to work with BK importing data and executing action items.
• Will continue the development of the Advanced LIGO Project Web Site.
• Will continue the development of the Advanced LIGO Project Controls Guide Book.

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WBS 1.4.1.2   Project Controls (LIGO Construction)


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Reports (Lindquist)

Nothing to report.

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Change Control/Contingency (Lindquist)

The following Change Request has been submitted:
 

CR-010006

WBS 1.1.4 (OPS)

Roof Shelter for Concrete Pad Adjacent to Erosion Control Pond (Livingston)

M. Coles

Press for the latest Contingency Needs Projection.


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COST SCHEDULE CONTROL SYSTEMS (Duncan, Akutagawa)

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

• No report this week.
From: Cindy Akutagawa <cindy@ligo.caltech.edu>
• I am gathering all the information for the monthly reports on the Construction and Advanced R&D accounts for July 2001. Since the Advanced R&D report has been put into a new format, I will no longer send out the details at a later date. Everything is put on the network at the same time.
• Florence Kaufman and I have decided to put all the reports into one place (for your convenience)... so they can be found at

 

 

http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport
 
 

• 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).

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SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Jasnow)

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

• The Invitation for Bid for the Hanford OSB East Building is now being assembled by NTD Architects.  Ed Jasnow met with Mike Marquez of NTD on Tuesday, August 7, to discuss the General Provisions, proposal form, and certifications.  The IFB is scheduled to be released on August 24, with the pre-bid conference/job walk scheduled for September 12 and the bid opening scheduled for September 26.
• A meeting has been scheduled for August 15, with Brunt Construction, contractor for the Livingston Staging Building.  The construction has fallen behind schedule, and the contractor is being requested to develop a schedule from the current point to completion.  Attending this meeting for LIGO will be Gerry Stapfer and Ed Jasnow.

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Quality/Safety (Tyler)

>From: Bill Tyler <tyler@ligo.caltech.edu>
• No report this week.

LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) Operations (Raab)

no report

LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO) Operations (Coles)

Detector: Optics and Installation: This week has been spent on packing, cleaning and organizing clean storage and the labs following OSEM re-installation. Optical levers in the vertex are being calibrated, and the installation of wiring for the Laser Safety Interlock has begun. Jonathan Kern

General Computing: We are working on plans for the computing support spaces in the new building. We are installing a new print server.We are continuing to work on the second T1 line, which should be operational soon. (Tom Evans)

Operations: Continuing work on the electronic checklist, operators manual, operator training log. I am starting a check to ensure that the "borrowed temporary
channels" written on the control room white boards is complete and accurate. Rich Riesen

Other: Congressman Richard Baker visited LLO on Wednesday, accompanied by a reporter, photographer, and two members of his Washington, DC staff. He met with Mark Coles, Gerry Stapfer, and Rai Weiss. He was given a tour of the LIGO facility and a brief status report and overview of our plans for operating and upgrading LIGO, and establishing an outreach center. He was very supportive and offered to help in any way should we require assistance from him.

LIGO signs were installed on the interstate off ramp and at the intersection of Hwy 190 and 63 this week.
 

Detector/Technical Support (Whitcomb, Coyne)

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

1.1 LHO INSTALLATION & COMMISSIONING

Fifth Engineering Run

The 5th engineering run took place between Friday, July 3, 10:00AM PDT and Monday, July 6, 10:00AM. The 2K Hanford interferometer was run in full power- recycled configuration with arm cavities, whereas at Livingston mode cleaner, vertex Michelson and physical environment data was taken. The run was a success with the LHO 2K interferometer being "locked" for more than 50% of the time. Lock stretches were typically 30-60 minutes long limited mainly by tidal drift. Lock acquisition wasn't as reliable (yet) as one could have wished for but once locked the interferometer was running smoothly. A four hour one arm run was added at the end to support the e2e modelling effort.

Data was taken both with the full frame builder and the reduced data set writer. No problems were encountered and all data made it to disk and tape. During the whole run monitor programs were running on the DMT machines pretty much using up all available CPU cycles. The Livingston site experienced a large thunderstorm on Sunday night and some interesting data was recorded on magnetometers, seismometers and microphones.

During the run the tidal predictor was controlling the temperature of the reference cavity compensating for roughly 50% of the common mode tidal motion. (Since it was full moon tidal drifts were large.) The "lock of loss" study identified at least two categories of lock losses: (A) a 13Hz instability encountered mainly during the first half of the run when the resonant gain stages for Michelson and power- recycling cavity were engaged, and (B) an out-of-range condition when the error signal in reflection used to feed back to the common mode was running into a rail. At least one lock loss might be attributed to a magnitude 6.5 earthquake in the southern east pacific rise. The interferometer stayed locked during most of the time, so.

Another effect which was observed for some lock stretches during the run was the ring-up of a resonance at 687.4702 Hz. Its width was equal or smaller than 0.7 mHz indicating a Q of a million or more. The most likely explanation is that the control system was ringing up the first harmonic of a violin resonance. The investigation of the relative timing accuracy during the run revealed that the data acquisition system was stable within +/-2 us and that the difference between the two sites (as measured by the GPS clocks) was 70 us or less.

John Zwezig
This week I participated in the E5 run. The frame file comparison script, which was a new addition for this run, discovered 1 frame (of the 6173 checked) that differed between the RDS and CDS/LDAS data samples. This difference was traced to a buffer overflow problem in the Frame Builder which was fixed by Alex.

Another new feature of this run was the use of Peter Shawhan's new trigger submission script SeqInsert. This differs from the previous versions in that it verifies that one job ran successfully through LDAS before submitting a second, possibly dependent job. SeqInsert proved its worth when LDAS hung up on a couple occasions. This would formerly have required extensive manual recovery, but with Seqinsert, recovery required only the submission of a retry command.

After the run I tagged (in cvs) the versions of software and configuration files used in the run. This will be standard procedure in future runs to document all data products (triggers, trends, etc ) produced during the run for use in future analysis.

I have also fixed a few minor bugs or deficiencies found during E5, mostly in setup scripts, etc.

Finally, I have released a preliminary version of the Histogram comparison monitor. For now, the histograms are collected and served to the DMT viewer. At present, a special version of the DMT viewer (modified by Masahiro) is needed to view the histograms. This version will be made the default shortly. The histogram comparison monitor can also read and write reference histograms that it uses for comparisons, and serves these references as well as the current versions.

4km Commissioning

• set input power (leaving PSL table) to 100mW;
• setting MC1 biases to fix reflected spot (off of MC1) on target (mark on wall);
• adjustment of reflected beam periscope on IOT1 (aligning beam to 2 irises around EO shutter), check of beam on photodiodes and look for spurius beams;
• returned input beam polarization to the original state (vertical) by removing lambda/4 plate on PSL table;
• test of mechanical shutter (on/off button);
• test of EO shutter by changing trigger level;
• enable MC servo and observe fringe stretching (at this moment, observe lock of high order modes);
• alignment of MC by acting on MC2 and MC3 only (the cavity was mainly misaligned in pitch, little misalignment on yaw) by minimizing reflected power DC, maximizing transmitted DC and monitoring trasmitted and reflected beam images on CCD camera;
• slowly increasing input power to 1 W while following with the EO shutter trigger level.

The MC servo loop goes into oscillation, however, when the overall gain is set above 20 dB (a broad resonance @ 20kHz is also present on the error signal PSD). With a 20 dB gain setting, the phase margin at unity gain is less than 10 deg. It turns out that the broad resonance at 20kHz is generated from the PSL due to an instable cross-over between the PC and FAST paths. Also, it has been observed that once the overall gain on the PSL is above a particular value, the OL gain becomes flat around the unity gain frequency.

1.2LLO INSTALLATION & COMMISSIONING

New MC Servo

The VME crate and modules have been installed and are now functional, after resolving the positions of the address jumpers and whether or not the board worked in the first place.  These have been installed in 1X1.  The new processor, l1iool1, and its software has been installed.  Everything appears to be running okay but there's a small hiccup with the digital gain sliders.

2.0 OtherEngineering and Scientific Activities

2.1 Design/Analysis/Fab

Optical Metrology

Optical modeling

Since I am running the FFT-code with non-spherical mirrors and I only know the "ground mode" of the cavity I had to write a long Fortran program which uses the unperturbed field as a reference and evaluates the perturbed contribution when one mirror is tilted.

Moreover using the fact that the first excited contribution will be dipolar if only on mirror is tilted I can even disentangle the first and the second order corrections and their weight.

I made ten runs increasing the tilt of the ETM mirror in the on-line cavity. It gave me much perspective on the dark port output.

• When the dipolar component is subtracted the residual power goes ~theta^4 and all the power is indeed in the dipolar component which goes like ~theta^2. Those results can be interpreted by the decomposition of the electric field inside the misaligned cavity mentioned above.
• At the antisymmetric port the excited components are detected since they are not cancelled in the combination with the beam coming from the unperturbed cavity, but also a portion of the ground state beam since its weight IS NOT the same in the two combining beams. In perturbation theory this would be stated as a "normalization condition". What happens is that a portion of the power is moved from the ground state to the higher order modes and that imbalance shows up at the antisymmetric port.
• A slighter effect is due to diffraction losses but they are not significant. They also increase with theta^2 but the increment over the maximum angle error I have been studying that is 10^(-8) rad is only 5 10^(-8). So the diffraction loss may be considered almost stable around the value fixed as our limit that is 21ppm. Such limit has been mathematically evaluated as the amount of power clipped outside the edge of the mirror. I made an estimation by processing the FFT-code output and solving the equation for the gain including such internal losses: the same value has been found and this is closely related with the decomposition of the field resonating inside the arm cavity even when no tilt is active.

IOO PERISCOPE

PSL

Another batch of super polished substrates from Mindrum Precision have arrived.  Unfortunately the super polished surface cannot easily be discerned on a large fraction of the substrates, as there are no identifying marks and the different sized chamfer is not easily identified.

A small number (28) of the substrates that could be easily identified were shipped to REO for coating.

Lee Cardenas

• New Laser warning (same as the sites) has been mounted for the PSL Lab.
• (28) super polished fused silica substrates has been sent for coating to REO INC.
• (21) more substrates arrived from Mindrum Precision Inc.  (21) backordered. All these substrates are being coated as mirrors for the second generation of PMC.
• Optical layout, Alignment  and mode matching for the PMC is ongoing for the NPRO S/N 170.

PSL Custom Boards: GEO and Site Spares By next week we will have one set of Euro-cage boards ready for the GEO installation and one full set of spare boards. We will also have 80 MHz VCOs ready.  Currently we have no RFPDs but we will begin building these units as soon as we get boards from Wilson House.

Intensity Stabilization: A design review is scheduled for next Friday.  We will review the proposed final configuration for the ISS subsystem, interface definition and circuit details. Other topics will include noise suppression performance of the ISS prototype at the Hanford Observatory and general progress thus far.

Sander Liu
In the process of finishing building and testing couple of Frequency Stabilization Servo cards and two 80 MHz VCOs.

General CDS

Planning on going to LHO week of Aug. 20.  During that week, want to get the 4k ASC front end running, update the Digital Suspension (DSC) code to run EX/TP with GDS, and check out integration of all the digital control systems (LSC/ASC/DSC).

Timing:

DAQ

Working on adding the arbitrary waveform generator code to pentium DCU code for the mid/end stations. This will be necessary when we replace the MIPS units, as mentioned above.

The 500GByte RAID tower units have been shipped back to the factory for replacement with the rack mount versions. Don't know yet when we will get them. In the meantime, we are still limited to 13 hours of online data at LHO.

Digital Suspensions

One rack for the parallel build up of the LHO 2K system has been recieved at LHO. 2 more and 4 VME crates are due by 8/23.

Cross connect panels for LHO 2K are done and being checked.

Rolf Bork
Worked out the EX/TP signal list with Sigg.  After I add the right EX/TP numbers into the code, we should be ready to test the DSC with the GDS on the LHO 4k.

Sander Liu
Digital Suspension Control - In the process of building 8 LEMO version of the Antialiasing Filter chassis.

ASC

Rolf Bork
In process of adding code to relay DAQ data from 4k end station DSC to the DAQ reflected memory network.
 

40 Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)

• PSL (Ugolini, Abbott, Piatenko, deMichele):
• Still finding problems with the PSL DAQ. 2 channels weren't wired at all; we're running temporary fixes now, and Ben will modify the board to supply the signals, soon.
• SURF Andrea deMichele made a preliminary calibration of the frequency servo error signal, and from 10 minutes of servo signals from the frame files, made a noise power spectrum. We sure hope his calibration is off by a factor ~100 (quite possible), because the noise is that much too high!
• Mike Smith has performed mode matching calculations for all the critical beam waists in the PSL optical train, and alternative beam matching lenses and locations were determined. He'll check these calculations with SURF Tim Piatenko and with Peter King, and then we'll implement changes in the coming weeks.
• Mike suggested we purchase a spherometer so that we can verify the focal lengths of the lenses placed on the PSL table by Peter.
• The PMC servo loop was not holding the PMC on resonance correctly. (in all of our diagnostics, we turn the servo off and make sure the cavity and all signals look good). Problem was traced to saturation at the RFPD sensing the reflected light. The beam attenuator in front of it was not installed correctly. As a temporary fix, we put a ND filter in front of the RFPD; then, after adjusting the gains and offsets, the servo is now working correctly.
• Still, only about 50% of the light incident on the PMC is being transmitted; clearly, more tuning is required, and/or losses are larger than expected.
• In the coming week, we will check and tune all mode matching, servo loop gains and phases and offsets, etc, and then let the thing run, uninterrupted, for a few days. SURF Andrea deMichele will monitor and document the frequency and intensity noise, possibly also the position and angle fluctuations, and the long-term stability of all parameters.
• Ben awaits cable required to read out the 2 pairs of QPDs for monitoring beam position and angle fluctuations. He expects to have the cable, and get it going, in the next week.
• We frequently need to measure the beam transverse profile, but Lee took back the beam scan device they were lending to us. We debate whether we should buy a Beam Scan from Photon-Inc or a new Spiricon. We need some expert advice...
• We have no spare ... anythings. We'll order a slew of spare optics and diagnostic equipment.
• Vacuum envelope and controls (Jones, Vass, Ugonili, Abbott, SURFs):
• Steve Vass has finished all of his leak testing and calibration; there is no sign of leaks in the new vacuum components installed this month!
• Dennis is getting back to fixing some problems in the vacuum control readout of the ion pump status, and readback cables that need to be made for one or 2 new gate valves.
• An IP controller (a spare) is malfunctioning. Steve can't get the manufacturer to repair it. Ben will try.
• Optical layout (Mike Smith):
• Mike has reviewed the mode matching on the PSL table (see above).
• The layout drawings for all the optical tables have been annotated with reference numbers (by Fred Mann) and parts lists and are in the process of being checked.
• The design requirements for the IFO Input Beam, the Optical Sensing Beams, the Stray Light Control, the Initial Alignment System, and the Optical Lever System are being developed and documented.
• Input beam monitor angle sensor and displacement sensor were designed. The sensors have adequate precision to accurately locate the input beam into the input mode cleaner, and have negligible cross coupling between displacement and tilt.
• Mike will make an inventory of all electro-optical devices required for IFO sensing, especially non-off-the-shelf items that Wilson House must supply or develop.
• Sensing (Jay): Jay reminds us that wavefront sensors will not operate well at 180 MHz, and new sensors must be developed.
• PEM (Ugolini, Tsai, AJW): Weather station readout and GUI, by SURF Victor Tsai, work fine. The outdoor part of the weather station will be installed on the roof, along with the second GPS antenna needed for the DAQ, as soon as the GPS antenna cable is in, which Ben thinks will be by the end of this week. Next, Dennis and Victor will work on reading out the STACIS controllers. Then we'll add the seismometer, microphones, etc.
• DAQ (Rolf, Abbott, Ugolini): Rolf diagnosed the problem with the 2nd ADC in the crate, and it has been fixed. Dennis and Ben fixed the fast channels of the DAQ to read out appropriate PSL inputs. Ben will install the 2nd GPS antenna when the cable arrives, hopefully this week.
• Computing (Ugolini): Dennis has not succeeded in building all of DMT from source, despite help from John Zweizig, and is now following John's suggestion of copying over the installation from saiph onto 40m computers (once Dennis prepares them appropriately). Dennis is making progress on getting AutoBURT to work (needed for the vacuum system), and also on EPICS ARchive, but still can't get EPICS to get the time from a network time server.
• Suspension Controllers (Ben Abbott): Ben is working on Protel drawings of the electronics for digital suspension controllers for our 10 suspended optics. He's ordering VME crates for them.
• Suspensions (Janeen Romie): Janeen is working on mods to fixtures for our SOS suspensions, required because of the larger wedge angles at the 40m than at LIGO. She'll also work on moving the OSEMs for the beam splitter SOS so that the beam has a >3cm diameter clear aperture at this 45degree optic. She'll begin working on the design of the suspensions for the test mass optics (which are 5"diameter, 2" thick), with the aim of having them in production by the end of the summer!
• Facility (Steve Vass, Larry Jones):
• The 6 smaller optical tables and the custom (Larry Jones special) supports, have all arrived and have been placed in their appropriate locations. Steve suggests some modifications with respect to Mike Smith's layout drawings; Mike thinks he can accomodate them.
• Cables (Larry): Larry has ordered all the welded vacuum feedthroughs that will be needed for the 40m. He continues to explore the ML enamel wire for the in-vacuum cabling, but we're beginning to converge on going back to Cooner wire, simply bundled into 12 twisted pairs + one ground, surrounded by thin braided shielding. This should still be plenty flexible and small diameter, so that we can run as many as 8 sets of 25-conductor cables down a stack. Only worry is that the teflon coating might flow under stress, so Larry is designing clamps that minimze this. We should be able to have all the in-vacuum cabling we need, with a tested technology, in a few months.
• Steve has shipped an old 40m suspension, complete with OSEMS, electronics, and drawings, up to Fred, as promised long ago.
• We have an old 43 GB RAID array, now obsolete. It belongs to Stuart Anderson / LDAS, and they don't want it. Will be sent back to Ed Chargois.
• SURF students: All up visiting Hanford, and giving 10 minute talks on their summer projects - sure to impress the audience, if any! And it sure is quiet around the lab...

Thermal Noise Interferometer (Libbrecht)

Since our last report, we have made some improvements in the stability and robustness of our arm-cavity lock. By implementing a feedaround to the laser's PZT (summed with the signal from the mode cleaner) in addition to feedback to the arm-cavity mirror, we are now able to lock regularly and reliably to the TEM00 mode in the north arm cavity. We are still locking to the sideband, but the lock is quiet enough and robust enough for us to start reducing the noise.
 

We have lowered our noise floor by about a factor of ten, at one kilohertz, over the last few days. Last Friday our sensitivity at 1kHz was about 2.6e-16 m/rtHz, and as of this writing it is 3e-17 m/rtHz at 1kHz. Our dominant noise source has so far been frequency noise, and we have gained this factor of ten in sensitivity by improving the stability of our laser.

LASTI (Zucker)

LASTI (Harry, Mason, Mason, MacInnis, Miller, Mittleman, Ottaway,
Rollins, Shoemaker, Zucker):
 

PSL: Rick Karwoski and Paul Russel spent last week installing the PSL
control electronics.  Everything is operational up to the field wiring
to the table, and the crate controller and all boards talk properly to
the EPICS command interface.  Field terminations will be completed as
the optical components and laser itself are installed.
 

Unfortunately Peter King reports our MOPA laser, sent back to Lightwave
for warranty repair four months ago, is now held hostage for an
"exorbitant" repair fee; negotiations are ongoing.
 

CDS: With guidance from Dave Barker and Jay Heefner MZ was able to swap
out a failed disk drive in our FrameBuilder's RAID array.  True to its
promise, the RAID reconstructed the information and restored the lost
drive's data; after a little fussing, the Framebuilder and EPICS system
came back to life.
 

A major power failure in Cambridge today underscored the need for a UPS
on the LASTI framebuilder.
 

Integrated layout: Ken Mason has completed a detailed optical layout
based on the latest Advanced LIGO Quad Pendulum footprint,
simultaneously incorporating the detailed PSL/Input Optics table
layout. There are some tight clearances but everything fits and makes
it through the beam tube.
 

Hydraulic pre-isolators: Dan Mason has developed a 3-d SolidWorks model
for the hydraulic actuators, interfaced to the LASTI HAM seismic
supports.  We'll review this with the Stanford people at the upcoming
LSC meeting.
 

Quad pendulum: Local damping is now operating on one full chain and
almost so on the reaction chain. Fred Miller is building wiring
harnesses to enable closing the vacuum can for acoustic shielding.
Rich Mittleman and Gregg Harry have identified several eigenmodes of
the prototype quad, using some Kaman noncontact proximity sensors
located near the bottom test mass.  They are being compared with model
predictions provided by Norna and Calum at Glasgow.
 
 

Test cavity design: Dave O. has settled on a g-parameter of 0.9 for
the initial (short) test cavity to be installed next month in
HAM-13, matching the tentatively planned  Advanced LIGO
cavity geometry.  For the eventual 16 meter cavity designs, it looks
like a comparable g-factor will be the baseline.
 

Noise modeling:  Gregg and Dave added the option of different materials
for the input mirrors and the output mirrors to the model.  Using this
we modeled a 15 m cavity with 37 mm beam spot sizes with fused silica
input mirrors and sapphire end mirrors.  The noise budget is dominated
by thermoelastic noise up to about a kiloHertz, then is briefly
dominated by coating thermal noise until about 3 kiloHertz when it is
taken over by shot noise.
 

Gregg and Andri Gretarsson (Syracuse) appear to have found a
significant error (factor of 2) in the BENCH thermal noise routine.
This may adversely affect both LASTI and Advanced LIGO noise
predictions.

Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)

Simulation and Modeling (Bhawal)

E2E Weekly Physics meeting
--------------------------
 Virginio Sannibale talked about his recent results from E2E mechanical
 simulation of the internal modes of suspension wires or violin modes and
 their good matching with experimental data. He also proposed measurements
 to verify/compare splitting of violin mode frequencies by a few Hz that he
 observes in simulation for (say 1%) difference in two wire radii.

Code improvement
----------------
 (Biplab) improved and corrected e2ecalc.cc which calculates characteristics
 of matching mode when parameters of a 2-mir or 3-mir cavity are provided.

Alfi
----
 (Ed Maros)
 - Alfi4: Put back ability to assign default values for newly created ports.
 - Started on creating Makefile.am files for Alfi

 (Bruce)
 - Alfi5: Implementing Alfi box and primitive file parser.

 (Melody)
 - Checked in the Java code in the CVS repository.
 - Evaluating several Java unit test frameworks for the project.
   Creating some test suites for the new Alfi using the JUnit framework.
 - Evaluated jdb and jswat as possible java debuggers for the project.
 

LIGO Data Analysis System
 

Software Systems (Blackburn)

The focus on LDAS software this week has been in debugging and fixing open
problem reports and carrying out new tests of the system. Two or three dead-
lock conditions occurred between the lightweightAPI and the metaDataAPI during
the engineering run the source of this has been identified and fixed on the
Caltech development system. This deadlock condition was reproducible here at
CIT and had the potential to effect other pairs of LDAS APIs. However, the
additional testing that has been done on the development system to verify that
the fix is working has shown no further problems anywhere. Additionally, this
week has seen a lot of fixes to the documentation for LDAS, ranging from the
how to build and install LDAS to the documentation for the C++ shared objects
used in the individual APIs.

LDAS began to migrate away from the older SSH1 and SSH2 security tools and
adopt the OpenSSH tools this week. This change temporarily broke several
aspects of LDAS. Those that were identified this week have been fixed and
testing continues to see if we have overlooked any other problems with using
OpenSSH within LDAS.

There has been some progress on tracking down the problem with threaded code
on Linux SMP systems. The problem has can be reproduced on code that does
not use LDAS. It appears as though there is a thread safety issue with C++
templates using 2.95.x GCC compilers (we are using 2.95.3, the latest in this
series). News groups and our own experience with the frameCPP and the frame-
builder have shown that the 3.0 release of GCC goes a long ways towards fixing
these types of problems. We are waiting for the 3.0.1 release of GCC to allow
several critical bugs that effect LDAS to be fixed before jumping to a new GCC
development platform.

Two reviews of the LDAS controlMonitorAPI have been held over the past two
weeks. The controlMonitorAPI is the only graphical component of LDAS and is
used to monitor the health and status of the system, as well as to control and
modify the configuration of the LDAS system. At each of these reviews the
LDAS software development team has gathered to identify improvements in the
user interface's implementation and to address security issues associated with
how users with access to this tool are allowed to interact with LDAS. A rather
large list of changes has been generated and are currently in the process of
being implemented.

The problem running the standalone wrapperAPI that was reported by UWM
several weeks ago and un-reproduced here at Caltech has finally been
tracked down. The problem is in the Unix internet configuration options that
are used to identify a computers domain name. The standards being used
here at Caltech, MIT and the sites are not the same as what is being used
at UWM. There will be a meeting between the LDAS hardware, LDAS soft-
ware and the UWM group later this week to understand the reasons for the
LIGO/LDAS choices and see if a method exists for satisfying both approaches.

Last week LDAS was represented at the GriPhyN "all hands meeting" in
Chicago. Working with USC-ISI and UWM, a prototype system that layers
Grid technology onto LDAS was presented and discussed. This layer will
require some minimal modifications to the LDAS design and the initial
prototype activities will be carried out using the LDAS-Test system here
at CIT. The goal of the group is to have something available for demonstration
at the next SuperComputing Conference this fall.

The organizational effort for the next MDC beginning on September 4, lasting
until September 10th began this week. This MDC will take place at MIT and
will exercise codes from the Burst and Stochastic upper limits groups in both
the DMT and LDAS environments.

John Whelan of University of Texas Brownsville is visiting the LDAS software
development team this week to better understand the integration of the IFO-IFO
stochastic codes into the LDAS environment. We expect to be running the
first searches for stochastic backgrounds on simulated data inside the LDAS
system here at Caltech later today and tomorrow.
 

Hardware Systems (Anderson)

Caltech
-------
(Dan Kozak)

Finished the T3/QFS/UFS/NFS testing with the first FC topology and
started to compile all the results.  Installed 4 of the the FC cards on
loan from Sun into metaserver and configured a shared reader QFS setup
with 2 T3s (one for metadata, one for data).  The only hard part of
this was figuring out which of the FC cards was DOA.  :-)  Setting up
QFS for a shared reader was straightforward, though our original
configuration used 2 internal Sun 18Gb drives (striped) for the
metadata disks.  This doesn't work for a shared reader setup because
the metadata needs to be on a disk accessible to both (all) machines,
i.e.  via FC.

(Al Wilson)

The last of the linux boxes on the second floor have been updated to RH7.1
(phil C. and ed M.) The procedure for upgrading workstation class ldas
machines is a big hit. Still have a few bugs to work out with ldas, and
beowulf class machines. Useing systemimager to "clone" the nodes is
working as well. Completed ldas-test with a few minor glitches. Hopefully
by mid next week the "cfdef" procedure will be ready for the wild.
 

(Greg Mendell)
For The Weekly Report: August 2, 2001; LDAS ACTIVITY AT LHO:

1) The tapecontrol script successfully wrote the raw frame data onto the
T3 disk farms at LHO and LLO during E5.  The data were then transferred
to tape and the tapes have been sent to Caltech for ingestion into
HPSS.

2) Installation of the HVAC system for the LHO LDAS area in the staging
building is complete. (Except for a filter, that will be put in soon.)
The system is running.  The fire suppression system is yet to be
installed.

3) Worked with my SURF student on gravity waves from the r-modes.

4) Worked on writing an LDAS DSO to run search code for known pulsars
using the LALDemod function.
 

Data Analysis Activities
(Andrea)
* I worked to support the preparation of the next MDC for stochastic
  sources with the creation of frame files containing simulated data:
  this involved interacting with John Whelan and making some
  modifications to the Fbe library and utilities.
* I am working on the development of a burst detection method,
  based on the principal component analysis and suitable for
  extension to a network detection: the goal is to have a
  algorithm ready to be used in the analysis of the data being
  exchanged between VIRGO and LIGO. I have completed the definition
  of the algorithm at the single detector level and I am working
  at its network extension.
 

General Computing (Wallace)

MIT:
Nothing major to report for General Computing
 

Livingston:
(Tom)
-We are working on plans for the computing support spaces in
the new building.
-We are installing a new print server.
-We are continuing to work on the second T1 line, which should
be operational soon.

Hanford:
(Christine)
- More cleanup of the Sircam32 virus.  Two more PCs received the e-mail,
but Norton caught it and quarantined the file.
- Setup the wireless networks in the Staging Building and OSB.  One
Wireless server was DOA and had to be shipped back.  A replacement has
been overnighted.
- Configured and started the DHCP server to dynamically allocate IP
addresses.
- Helped setup a new Windows 2000 laptop for a user.
- Created several new user accounts.  Helped with multiple user
questions and problems.
- Purchased more cables, converters and UPS for main server replacement
scheduled for next weekend.
- Setup 10 computers for use by LSC.  Included installing software,
putting on local LAN, connecting some to projectors and placing the
others in useful locations for the LSC.
- Purchased a disk replacement for a Sun Ultra10 whose internal disk
died.

CIT:
(Mike)
-Worked AutoCAD software trying to export AutoCAD drawings to ANSYS 5.6 that
has an IGES extension, no luck on this. I just received AutoCAD 2002 and
well be installing this on users computer today, with any luck the fix for
IGES is included in this package.
-Upgraded memory on three Sparcs and one PC bringing them up to a total of
512MB.
-Change office around to make more space.
-Loaded 2 laptops with all general computing software.
-Reviewed VRVS video conference with Larry
-Lisa going over on how to install a PC emulator on a sparc.
-Worked the plotter with Larry, changing chemicals.
-Running user data backup's to CD's.
-Updating users virus scan software.
-Onsite and phone user support, which included hardware and software issues
like adding patches and swapping out hardware, and printing problems.

(Wendy)
- Updated inventory map
- Installed plotter drivers
- Tried printing map on plotter, it printed, but not ideally
- Watched Mike install CDRW drive and learned what the master/slave,
primary/secondary settings exactly mean
- Watched Lisa install SunPCI card on Minkar
- Delivered stuff to Millikan
- Burned a few CDs
-Working on learning more about Unix.

(Barbara)
- Installed changes so roster/staff directory web page can be generated
automatically from roster database.  Began work to generate LSC rosters
directly from database (currently they are generated via a VB module).
- Updated the WBS Dictionary in the costbook.  Met with Tom Frey on progress.
- Reworked the About LIGO web pages.  Made other web changes to LSC
rosters, MOU page, travel authorization form.
 

(Mik)
On Vacation
 

(Lisa)
-Worked with Larry to resolve some licensing issues.
-Resolved a number of Cadence configuration problems for various users.
-Setting up a tape system so old LIGO tapes can be copied to new media.
-Reworking some of the setup configuration files on the UNIX side of the house.
-Trying to get a new SUNPCI card installed. The issue will have to be reworked
next week.
-Went through a number of procedures with Mike.

(Larry)
-Resolved a number of procurement related items. Also, working on getting some
of the maintenance contracts renewed before the end of the fiscal years.
-Worked on a number of PC related issues which most have been turned over to
Mike.
-The virus hits are still coming through. Thanks to a couple of alert users
noticing attacks on their machines we were able to track  down a rogue machine
on our network. Many people have become more aware of being careful with the
user of their computer. This too has helped in keeping the number of problems
down.
-Worked on a number of hardware installations, both PC and SUN related. Started
work on changing the server room around.
-Assisted Lisa on resolving a number of Cadence issues.
-Assisting in the support of the LSC mtg.
 

LIGO II/Advanced R&D (Sanders)

From: Peter Fritschel <pf@ligo.mit.edu>

Advanced LIGO systems design:

I have been considering the impact of an error recently found in Bench,
the matlab code which calculates the source detection performance for
an interferometer design: A. Gretarsson and G Harry found that the noise
calculation for the internal Brownian motion of the test masses was too
small by a factor of 2 in noise power (essentially, one arm was missing).
The correct factor leads to revised performance projections as
follows, <em>neglecting</em> any additional mechanical loss from the
mirror coating:
 

1. Sapphire test masses: thermal noise was dominated by thermo-elastic
noise, which was calculated correctly, so the effect is relatively small;
the neutron star binary inspiral (NBI) range, for a single detector, is
reduced from 209 Mpc to 206 Mpc.
 

2. Fused silica test masses: a bigger effect, since internal Brownian
motion dominated the overall strain noise over the range ~40-200 Hz;
NBI range is reduced from 176 Mpc to 142 Mpc.
 

Including the effect of coating loss as measured to date reduces even more
significantly the range projections (estimates still in progress). A
couple of immediate reactions to this development:

o sapphire now looks significantly more attractive as a test mass
material, compared to fused silica

o developing mirror coatings with lower mechanical loss is now even more
critical to advanced LIGO
 

From Rich Abbott:

Delivered the Capacitance Position Sensor prototype to Joe G. and helped configure it for some data acquisition testing. I am collecting input for ordering more sensors and also the design information for the voice coil actuator design.
 
 
 

From: Francesco Fidecaro <fidecaro_f@ligo.caltech.edu>

Virginio
Consultant on LVDT and mechanics work in synchrotron lab.

Charlotte
Model of cylindrical flex joint for Inverted Pendulum. Elastic constant 37 kN/m in given geometry. Study of thermal conductivity with sink at 4 K and 250 mW power to be dissipated. Low and constant T gradient achieved over the 2 flex joints. Also tried with 20 mK sink, effect of T^3 conductivity clearly visible. Need AUTOCAD extension for IGES format (this format is now required for all contractors of US administration, according to the IGES web site...).

Mathieu
Checked results with Phil. Half sphere ear sounds difficult to make. Worked on prism shape. Problems of wire-prism interface. Starting work with Helena Armandula to make comparisons with Glasgow suspension. Perhaps measurements could be made available. From now on this report will also be sent to Regis Dufour, INSA-Lyon and supervisor in France of Charlotte and Mathieu.

Lia, Francesco
LVDT boards now all repaired. T drift data taking run started for the weekend. Prepared all the mechanics for the creep measurement. Wound a few additional LVDT so that 10 springs can be measured.

Hongo activity (Alessandro, Giovanni, Akiteru): merging of Alessandro's and Akiteru reports
1. played with feedback gain of the accelerometer (see previous reports). After Alessandro's arrival all 8 accelerometers are now working and all electronic boards are modified to widen their bandwidth. checked good agreement with a commercial seismometer between 200 mHz and 100 Hz. disagreement out of the band may be due to limitations of the seismometer.
2. Alessandro has been testing if line driver-receiver pair can reduce line
coupling. Turns out to be a ground problem. Rearranging ground connections has reduced line noise by a factor 8.
3. Tried to diagonalize the acc on the IP and implement inertial damping. Damping on yaw mode seems ok, while for the translational modes it was not clear if the damping was working. Also observed instability when all three loops closed.
After accelerometer upgrades and noise reduction, measurements on IP inertial damping sensing matrix restarted.

Francesco
Investigating other possible sources of electronics drift with T.

Riccardo
Trip to Salerno University (Innocenzo Pinto and his crew). See also report on Virgo in LIGO monthly newsletter.
 

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