Weekly Report for Week Ending May 30, 2002

The LIGO Executive Committee Agenda for Monday  June 3, 2002:

 (Meeting time: 10:30 am Pacific Time)

Open meeting 10:30 - 11:30

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

Special Items:

Special Announcements:

Weekly Report Highlights

(Rai Weiss)

As a result of work at both Hanford (on the two-kilometer interferometer) and Livingston (four-kilometer interferometer) we achieved strain sensitivities during the last week a little better than that measured on the 40-meter system in 1994. This is the case over the entire gravitational wave band, from 100 Hz toward the higher frequencies. The sensitivity is better than has been achieved with any previous broad band detector.  And two of them, that is really a first.  Two interferometers at separated sites support coincidence techniques for the gravitational wave search.

Daniel Sigg and Rana Adhikari are the recent heroes standing on the shoulders of a lot of other people.

LSC Issues (Weiss)

no report.

LIGO I Construction/LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

There was a site teleconference held on Thursday, May 30, 2002.  The following items were discussed:

Status of Commissioning: (See below.)

Action 106: Outfitting and Populating the Building at Livingston, Ed is planning a trip to Landover, MD (GSA collection point) on June 11 to check out some furniture.  The plan for population at Livingston has not been finalized; still looking at some options.  Gerry is on route to Pasadena and will be here next week.

Time line for spend out of construction funds: Gerry has identified up to $325,000 to be requested for completing the new facilities.  Some of this will be for outfitting the laboratory for MRE effort.  Air conditioning and fire suppression for LDAS room also included.  We have not yet seen a change request.  Phil to help Gerry prepare a Change Request next week.  Money for outfitting labs basically to be provided at time needed, especially since needs cannot be known at this time.

Livingston Staging Building: working on punch list (75 - 80 percent complete).  Some will drag on.

Building at Hanford:  Reported progress is good.  Getting PO today for audio/visual equipment.  $80,000 purchase order will include two projectors.

Property:  Ed is looking for 1) a good street sweeper for Otto, and 2) a small Bobcat for Gerry, kind of tough right now.

The list of current actions revised to reflect the status of open actions assigned through May 30, 2001 may be found at ACTION LIST.

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

• Nothing significant to report.

>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

• On vacation May 29th thru June 20th.

ACTIVITY

• It was a short week with Monday being a holiday and was out on Tuesday as well.
• Progress continues on conversion of old charge account files to electronic form.
• Electronic document activity remains steady.

 

05/30/02	Packages	Faxes
In	37	25
Out	9	17

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

Press here for ACCOUNTS PAYABLE HISTORY DATA .

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

• Closed out and removed encumbrances on several contracts as requested by Irena Petrac jointly with Florence Kaufman.
• Completed the no-cost extensions to S.I.O.M. and E.G.O.
• Working on sending out the results of the RFQ to all the bidders of the AV Presentation system for Hanford, and issuing the order to the lowest bidder.  The decision was made late yesterday after a site meeting with the lowest bidder.
• Working on resolving the tax issue with Superior Jig.

• No report this week.

 
• Financial reports can be found at: http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport

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

• Nothing significant to report.

CONSTRUCTION:

• Construction on the OSB East Building at Hanford is going well and is on schedule. Ed Jasnow was at Hanford on May 28 and 29 to observe the construction progress and meet with the low bidder for the audio/visual equipment, Intelligent Video Systems (IVS). The president of IVS, Brian Greenwood, toured the auditorium and confirmed that he could do the work for his proposed price of about $80,000. He will get a purchase order this week. The $80,000 price compares with $100,000 budgeted for this effort.
• The punch list items continue to be worked on the Livingston Staging Building. The list is over 80% complete, but effort on the wooden stage floor continues to flounder. Additionally, Ed Jasnow confirmed with the supplier of the crane that he still intended to install the stops as previously agreed.

• There has been no further word on the possibility of using the Livingston access road as a landing strip for crop dusting planes. We still have not had official contact with Weyerhauser on this issue.

SUPPORT (Baldon, Torres, Lloyd, Tischler)

>Irene Baldon

• Please note that this report is for three (3) days only since there was a holiday and I was out ill for one (1) day.
• Processed the paper work for three (3) new/revised trip and there are eight (8) trips in various stages of completion before ticketing can be done and paper work completed.
• Completed sixteen (16) Expense Reports and there are fourteen (14) reports yet to be done.
• Reconciled twenty-eight (28) P-Card items this week which required phone calls to hotels to track down which traveler incurred which charge and pulling each traveler's file to assure that charges are correct for each airline fee. Assisted a couple of P-Card holders who were/are out of town/country with their reconciling and/or expense reporting.
• Worked on the preparation and distribution of the Travel/Vacation Itinerary for May 28, 2002.
• Performed normal recording and filing associated with Travel and Reimbursement.
• 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.

• On vacation May 27th thru May 31st.

• Formatted milestones report from Oregon, placed it onto the small web page for review along with their Attachment A, and progress report.
• Placed into the DCC out box Stanford reports for sections B-D, and also Southern University A&M progress report, after these were reviewed.
• Formatted a lengthy report from GEO, this is now in review.
• Continue to track progress of orders placed for M. Smith while he's away.
• I'm submitting the incoming partial orders to the 40m staff. Finally got info on an item that was returned for repair.
• Arranged for another eye exam and laser training. The Caltech Weekly Update lists dates for upcoming laser training sessions.
• Continue working on update to the addresses contained in the LSC-ALL alias. Working only on the LIGO portion, the non-LIGO portion to be done later.
• Arranged a telecon for: Burst injected signals.
• Placed several Pcard orders, reconciled a few after chasing down the paper work. Started a $90 requisition for a vendor that does not take credit card.
• Changes to LIGO roster this week: SURF students Kyle Barbary, and Eric Kort.
• INFORMATION : US postal rates change on June 30, 2002.  Visit -- http://www.usps.com/ratecase

• No report this week.

Advanced LIGO (Frey)

Progress Period from 05.24 to 05.30

Accomplishments:

• Out of the office Friday the 24th.
• Weekly Advanced LIGO Project Controls meeting was not held this week.
• Continued to work with Primavera regarding an outstanding technical issue and received a program patch that I am now using and testing.
• Advanced LIGO MRE Proposal (Highest Priority)
• Per direction of Gary, Dennis, David, and Phil, I am updating the presentation from November with most current data for meeting to be scheduled in June.
• Continuing the development of the Cost Estimate.
• The following is a summary of status by sub system:
• COC - Work on action items per second review continues.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• PSL - Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• AOS - Work on action items continues.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• IO -  Work on action items continues.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• SUS - Working with SUS group to incorporate current comments.
• SEI - Work on action items continues.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• ISC - Made arrangements for trip to MIT and work plan for interface with Mike.  Started work preparing draft data for Mike to review / fine tune during trip to MIT.
• LDAS - No data / feedback from Albert to date.
• 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.
• Data pending to revise plan to version 3 due to additional efforts to isolate noise.
• 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.
• Cost Book Tool.
• ROSTER DATABASE:
• Continue work on my action items providing BK with needed data.
• COST BOOK DATABASE:
• Nothing new to report.
• Gang of 5+:
• Continue work on procurement documents per request of Phil / Gina / Dot.
• DCAA - Work continues on the incurred cost audit.
• Nothing new to report  (All Quiet on the Western Front).
• Development of the Advanced LIGO Project Controls Guidebook continues.
• Project Web Site for posting schedule and progress related data continues to be updated with the latest and greatest.
• See http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/index.html

• Next weekly Advanced LIGO Project Controls meeting is to be scheduled for early June.  Subject:  MRE Cost and Proposal Development.
• 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.
• PSL - Will complete estimate and schedule changes.  Should be meeting with Peter King to look through estimate to separate LIGO Lab scope from LZH scope.
• AOS - Continue inputting changes to and prepare for next meeting TBD.
• IO - Continue inputting changes to and prepare for next meeting TBD.
• SUS - Continue inputting changes to and prepare for next meeting TBD.
• Will update the plan when data is made available.  Hoping for progress through May 31, 2002.
• SEI - Continue inputting changes and prepare for next meeting TBD.
• COC - Work on action items by Garilynn continues.  Anticipate schedule changes prior to next meeting TBD.
• ISC - Travel planned to MIT for the week of June 24th.
• LDAS - Will work with Albert to develop details.
• Will issue updated meeting minutes for every subsystem as action items from most recent review are completed.
• Will Continue to update the TNI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 05.31.02 and  post to site by the 5th.
• Will Continue to update the LASTI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 05.31.02 and  post to site by the 5th.
• Will continue updating the 40 meter schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 05.31.02 and  post to site by the 5th.
• Roster Database
• Will continue to work with BK and executing action items.
Cost Book Tool development continues.  (Highest Priority Task)
• Mapping and formatting of OPS cost data for input will now continue with co-operative agreement approved.
• Will continue to work with BK executing action items.
• Gang of 5+
• Will continue to work on procurement documents.
• Will continue to provide support to PL for DCAA audit(s).
• Will continue the development of the Advanced LIGO Project Web Site.
• Will continue the development of the Advanced LIGO Project Controls Guide Book.

August 1 we are scheduled to submit an annual work plan to the NSF for LIGO FY 2003 Operations.  We are modifying the first draft budget for FY 2003 based on the current staffing plan and information provided by group leads.

The following additional change request has been submitted:

 

CR-010012  Revision B

WBS 1.4.4.1

Closeout Construction Budgets for Initial Computer Equipment Complement at the Sites

P. Lindquist

From: Cindy Akutagawa <cindy@ligo.caltech.edu>

• Various personnel/payroll /HR related work.

Quality/Safety (Tyler)

• Nothing significant to report.

LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) Operations (Raab)

4k IFO investigations

2k IFO investigations

FACILITIES

LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO) Operations (Coles)

We will freeze changes in the hardware after Friday June 7 to prepare for the S1 run at the end of the month. The improvements we anticipate before S1, other than clean up and improvements in operating procedures, are:

• installation of the piezo motor/seismometer sensor servo system at both end masses (PEPI) which may improve the duty cycle.
• installation of new digital filters in the optical lever damping loops to reduce the noise between 40 to 70 Hz
• a trial of the new common mode servo configuration that has been developed during the past week at Hanford. We will make the decision by June 5 of which configuration to use and make more robust for S1.
• repair of the ASC software to re-enable the microseism feedforward system and enable the use of the WFS2.

We've redrawn ~80% the Stanford model of the Hydraulic Actuator on LIGO templates and issued DCC numbers. Detail checking and tolerancing are in progress. Five machine shops have been contacted, which are preparing preliminary estimates for the production of 12 sets for the LASTI instillation. Most shops are slow right now and several can begin work immediately. A quantity of Stanford's modified nozzles was ordered 5/21, ~ 3 wk delivery. Ordered 12 DPY2S Parker differential proportional valves on 5/28, ~ 1 mo delivery (These are the standard valves. Special testing and calibration using our procedure will increase the price and delay delivery). Provided Hyspan with drawings for the revised details of the weld-assist/shield rings on 5/28. They will reply soon with a price for the LASTI units. Returned to Stanford Wednesday and am meeting with Dennis and the group here today and tomorrow. Goal here is to learn more of the test and qualification procedure for the valve, and to document the procedure for LIGO. (Jonathan)

I have made arrangements to start the heat treat-coating-joining process for the machined spring pathfinder. I will meet with Metal improvement Inc. tomorrow (Friday) to have them start the heat treat efforts and discuss with them a greater quantity of springs. I have also made arrangements with the LSU Civil Engineering department Materials lab to perform the materials test on the machined spring. I will meet with Dr. Vojyadtis to show him the pathfinder before I bring it to Lafayette to have it heat-treated I along with Jonathan Kern have been working to get the pre-isolator hydraulic actuator fabricated in time to support the current schedule. Preliminary outlook looks promising, and we hope to be able to down select a fabricator and start cutting by next week. I am also looking very closely at ways to assemble and properly tension the springs, and I have come up with a design that piggy backs the current design that uses a load cell to give proper tension indication. I have been assessing potential interferences with the digital model to help ensure an expedient installation . The work continues on implementing the pre-isolator design into the BSC and HAM stacks then utilizing techniques to successfully produce a finite element model that reflects the physical model. This is still part of the effort to refine the 6x6 stiffness matrix that I have been working on. (Marcel)

LDAS

Performing extensive tests for metadatabase replication from sites.
Tested various 2,3 node configurations.

• Faulty disk replaced on gateway.
• Received 48 new PCs. Building the racks together with Rus and Mike.

Two teachers will participate in this summer's RET program. One is a returning teacher and the other is from the New Orleans Public Schools.

40 Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)

Suspended mass mode cleaner (Ugolini, Miyakawa, Vass):

• Now that the suspension controllers are in place (see below), effort is underway to align all three suspensions of our 13.5 m mode cleaner, using a procedure outlined by Dave Reitze. Much use is made of pitch and yaw offsets on the digital suspension controllers. Work is proceeding well, and all three suspensions are now very close to correct alignment; the job should be finished by the end of the week.
• Watek cameras are looking at the three suspended optics. The image quality on the monitors was extremely poor until Mike Zucker alerted Steve to the existence of a "low-light level" switch on the cameras; the image is now much improved. Camera housings (to shield ambient light and protect the camera and viewport) should be delivered by 6/5.
• The Watek looking North is supposed to see MC1 and MC3, but the mirror it looks through is too small. Larry Jones is drawing up parts for a wider mirror, so that the camera can see both suspended optics.
• Assembly of the MC reflected and transmitted optical sensing train has been on hold while needed parts trickle in. We expect to have almost everything by the end of the week.
• Osamu has gotten a decent signal out of the repaired optical spectrum analyzer (Tropel), with a 2% transmission. He's now commissioning the two RF sideband EOMs (Pockels cells) in the IOO (29.486 and 33.207 MHz; the latter was just ordered and received in one week!), and will look for these sidebands with the Tropel.

• The digital suspension controller system is working well on all three mode cleaner suspended optics. The controllers are left on (damping) 24x7, routinely. Various loose ends are being worked on at a low level: refinements to EPICS screens; getting all relevant channels into the DAQ; finalizing the timing system; tuning the gains for all degrees of freedom; measuring the transfer functions and noise.
• Jay's Watchdogs are in place to shut down the controllers if they start acting crazy.
• Ben and Bob are wiring up the Mode Cleaner controls rack (1Y2), including the cables to the sensing table. The last of the required modules should be in by the end of the week. Ben is bringing over the RF photodiodes and WFS's by the end of the week.
• Dave Barker, Alex Ivanov, and Jay have set up an AutoBURT system at the 40m, which has been logging snapshots hourly since May 23. Now we need to pick some reliable default snapshots, and arrange for them to be automatically restored when a crate is rebooted.

PSL:

• The PSL has been behaving stably for the last week. Several outstanding problems remain to be investigated when we get a chance: PSL PMC servo becomes unstable at the nominal gain (30 dB), and has been operating at 18 dB; the PSL FSS system exhibits a large 7 kHz noise peak; mode matching in the IOO to the mode cleaner has not been checked and there is reason to believe that it is not right.
• From Rich Abbott: The VME controlled intensity servo was installed at LLO last week. Thanks to the excellent test environment at the 40m lab, we were able to pre-check all the electronics and iron out the bugs prior to getting on the road. The installation went very well without any major hitches. Thanks to all involved.

Computing:

• Lisa Bogue and Mike Pedraza have set up a secure wireless access point on our martian network (40MARS), and installed three wireless laptops for use as an EPICS monitor screen. HOWEVER, the laptop screens are too small for some EPICS screens! Worse, there is something very unstable in the network; the screens often hang for many minutes before recovering or losing the connection. To be diagnosed...
• Lisa is preparing a tape backup system for our disk server, op140m.
• In the last week, we have not seen the vacuum control EPICS cpu hang with a "network connection lost" error, requiring a reboot. This was plagueing us last week. We will keep an eye out...

Facilities and vacuum envelope (Vass, Jones):

• Our newly repaired V1 valve has a pneumatic nitrogen leak. This requires a new part, from VAT in Switzerland, that we hope to receive in 1 week. Meanwhile, we can live without it.
• Steve had all the 40m cranes inspected by the same guys who inspect the CES cranes. Next week they will be back to do a load test, and then certify that the cranes are operating properly.
• From Larry: SP&MC table cover: short pieces already in anodizing, long pieces going out today; expect completion on 6/5.
• Camera housings: small parts are complete; housings machining and welding are complete; housings have been sent out for clear anodizing (my mistake; I hadn't marked out this note on the drawing, only canceled it verbally); expect completion on 6/5.
• Beam tubes: short pieces already in anodizing; long tube going out today; spun angle rings were received 5/28 and found to be made wrong (ID was made too small), were sent back for rework; once corrected, will need to be anodized; anticipate completion on 6/7, if things go well.

• Bob sent two malfunctioning RGA heads out for evaluation / repair.
• The new SRS ionization and pirani gauges installed onto the main volume of bake chamber #E check out ok.
• The 2nd new large bake oven (oven #F) is nearing completion. Plumbing parts for this oven are being baked out.
• Bob and Steve ordered calibrated leaks (LIGO calibrated mix) for the bake ovens and the 40m vacuum system.

Thermal Noise Interferometer (Libbrecht)

Our spec requires that the input noise of our servo filter be 30nV/rHz or less to give an equivalent length noise of 10^-19 m/rHz. Our chain of passive circuits and SR560's, while allowing us to lock during the day, does not meet this requirement. Jay Heefner offered some advice on how to achieve this in a custom-built circuit, and we have started, with his help, designing a unit to replace our SR560-based prototype electronics.

We also measured the noise in our active notch filters directly and got approximately 5nV/rHz, punctuated by a number of peaks at 60Hz and its harmonics. Fortunately, these filters can meet our noise requirements and can be retained when we replace the rest of the servo filters. We are working on ways to eliminate the 60Hz harmonics.

Kyle Barbary, the first TNI SURF student for this summer, started work this week.

LASTI (Zucker)

No report.

Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)

Simulation and Modeling (Bhawal)

SimLIGO

Mechanical simulation

• New 3D Suspension model included in e2e. Some technical problems needs   to be fixed.
• Draft of the documentation of the new 3D Suspension will be released   soon.
• Debugging of the new mechanical simulation engine MSE2 under progress.
• Written few new simple programs to test each one of the objects of the   new release of MSE.

E2E runs (including upto 4th order modes) and FFT runs match each other quite well for carrier fields in various cases of mismatch. For sidebands, the order of magnitude of power in various modes agree in most cases.  One important point is 06 or 60 power comes out to be more than 04 or 40 in FFT. Trying to understand if this is a real physical effect or some artefact.

Alfi

• Completed parser changes neccessary for new implementation of connections and junctions.
• Completed some work on parser for eventual separate generation of modeler files (.box) and Alfi files (.alfi).
• Closed several PRs for small bugs in the parser.
• Working on window sizing issues for edit windows.

• Continued on the implementation of the 'Find' feature for alfi5.

Software Systems (Blackburn)

Work continues on improving the reliability of the LDAS software reliability in preparation for this next release. The phenomenal performance from three weeks ago has yet to be reproduced as needed functionality has introduced stability issues along the way. At one point this week the system was approximately a thousand times less stable. We have worked very hard and almost recovered two of those three orders of magnitude. A primary source of trouble has been in the form of memory leaks introduced in new code that wasn't adequately unit tested before being committed to the system repository. Everyone is now more aware of the importance of unit testing and progress is once again being made.

A new interface to the data socket allowing "linger" parameters to be set on LDAS APIs that write through the client socket was incorrectly being used.  This has now been removed from client side writers.  New log files were added to the system to allow graphically monitoring of memory usage for each of the APIs. The recent rash of memory leaks discovered in the system necessitated this.

The job status web pages now capture the particular dynamically loaded shared object being loaded in the dataPipeline.

We've had a rather large number of core files to contend with from the system this week. These were primarily due to the large memory leaks and the incorrect usage of the linger option in the client side data sockets. It was also discovered that the objectSpace C++ socket library was not recompiled when we rebuilt our C++ compiler on May 9th. Several problems with exceptions were seen in these core files which lead us to this discovery.  Since the recompile, this problem has not been seen.

Work continues on the development of the cgi web pages for managing LSC requests for LDAS usernames and passwords. The interface now communicates with LDAS using various security steps (including encryption techniques).  The ParaSoft company has finally come through with our new license for the Insure++ software development tool we use for debugging various aspects of our C++ code.

Hardware Systems (Anderson)

Caltech

• Stress tested new SAN filesystems at LLO/LHO by copying reduced data set frame files between them.  Collected performance numbers for analysis.
• Worked on getting multiple inter-switch links working on the archive system (as a test for future SAN expansion at the sites).  So far this isn't working, but I'm talking to Sean at Sun about it.

• Flattened the network on the CIT, TEST, DEV systems so that there is only one file server per LDAS system.
• Worked on final tweaks for the System Imager disk for the cloning of nodes in LLO and LHO in two weeks. I will be at LLO in the first part of the week and LHO the second half of the week of 6/9-6/15.

• Compressed LDAS network (eliminated 10.5.X.X).
• Fixed mount point options.
• Troubleshot Foundry switch problems.
• Received 8GigE/72port Foundry switch.
• Researching Solaris 9 licensing at MIT.

• Performing extensive tests for metadatabase replication from sites.  Tested various 2,3 node configurations.
• Faulty disk replaced on gateway.
• Received 48 new PCs. Building the racks together with Rus and Mike.

• The reconfiguration of our T3 disk cache at LHO is complete and the conflict between the World Wide Numbers of two T3s was fixed by Sun.  LDAS and the CDS fb3 framebuilder are running again at LHO.
• Testing of the new configuration for E8 and S1 is underway. The archiving of data to disk and to tape during E8 will be similar to that during E6 and E7.  An RDS data set will also be produced during E8 and some disk space will need to be made free before the beginning of the run.

Mendell:

• Continued working with LDAS to debug jobs that request SFT data.  This now works well enough under some options that I can start updating my DSO to unpack SFT sent to it by the wrapper, but it still fails due to issues with identifying the primary when the -concatenate option is set to false.  LDAS is working to fix this last bug.  Also, it was determined that certain metadata about the SFTs will need to be put into the database during SFT generation. This involves additional coding in the knownpulsardemod DSO.  For now, this information will be parsed from log and record files that were kept by the scripts that managed the SFT generating jobs.
• Several enhancements and a bug fix where made to the LALDemod function.  I am adding code to my knownpulsardemod DSO to get it to work with the previous and latest changes.  Once this is completed much testing will be needed. Plans for another MDC will need to be made between S1 and S2 under consultation with the PULG group.

• I have been learning to use EventTool to do statistical analysis of the inspiral event candidates found in the E7 data, and to evaluate various prospective veto criteria.

• Working with Virgo (Ricci/Rome and Mours/Annecy) we drafted a joint letter of intent to perform transoceanic data transmission tests as part of our respective projects' participation in iVDGL(US) and DataGrid(Italy/France). The activity will take place in the context of the already existing NDAS (network data analysis server) that has been set up by Marka(LIGO), Mours(Virgo), and Williams(CACR).

MIT:

• Began setup/install of SB1000 & SB100
• Installed MU7 / various freeware packages on several GC computers
• Investigating spam relay from ligo
• Installed software on library computer
• Backed up Marie's computer
• Setting up wireless router in NW22
• Still working on WAN performance issues. Generated backup data and passed it to MIT ITS group.

• Investigating LDAP configurations. Checking to see if the security and reliability has improved. Also checking out the NIS+ compatibility.
• Just FYI the version 6.0 of StarOffice appears to be a major improvement over 5.2.

• Completed cgi for the work permit form on the web.
• Provided miscellaneous user support and dealt with several procurement issues.

• Talked with PNL about the network outage the Observatory had last week.  They are working on getting LIGO a few more numbers to contact in-case of any future problems. Also, the equipment that went down is old and they have no replacement. This will be brought up in the meeting Albert has with PNL and NoaNet, next week.

• Started looking into an sftp problem Albert is having.  I believe it is a disconnect between openSSH and the SSH we have installed on GC.  I need to build a test box to determine if this is true.
• I have all the pieces for the new luna and have started the build.
• Surf time is upon us.  Created new account, moved a couple of computers around.
• Helped Mike out with Pherkab license issues.

• Posted the Elba 2002 Conference presentations that I already have, at the conference's website. The files keep coming in, they will be posted as they arrive. Posted the final version of the Elba 2002 program on the web.
• Working on the Policies and Procedures online manual.
• Per Linda's request, looking into the setup of the DCC database; need to change the setup so that the database allows entry of older documents, e.g. 1979.
• Posted several updates to the LIGO website.
• Made a few minor changes to the graphics of the LIGO Press and Media Kit webpages. Working on the LIGO Timeline webpage.
• Per Albert's request, looking into how to set up an LSC computing resources information webpages; we need to have an online resource request form and report for for completed activities.
• CaJAGWR: updated the seminars webpage.

• Loaded a new computer for GariLynn with (2000 PRO) for this computer came preloaded with XP. Plus I loaded all GC software and a few engineering packages.  I swapped her old computer and setup the new computer in her office.
• Upgraded Norton Anti Virus software on all NT Servers.
• Working on finishing up Pherkab by replacing this server with a 2U server that is going to be running 2000 server, this will replace the previous server that is loaded with NT4.0 Server. I thought had it ready to go but when I put this server into circulation I found that there is much more work to be done. I hope to have the new server up and running before the end of this week.
• Loading a PC for visitor's workstation to set up another cubicle on the second floor of W/B.
• In the 40Meter I had to work on laptops to finalize some network settings.
• Alan Weinstein was having problems with his office PC and laptop I went and corrected the PC problems and am still looking into the laptop problem.

• Reviewing the FY03 budget with Albert.
• Working on OS reloads for the sandbox units. One should be finished this week and the others when I get back from travel.  Along the same line we are building a new LIGO Web server and docuserv server.  These are new units and should be good for a couple of years.
• Debugged a couple of printer problems. Mostly bad print files hanging up the system.
• Minor adjusting of parameters on some of the SUN boxes and the IDEAS application.
• Checking out machines with viruses, spammed mail and other related issues. The e-mail blocking list is still growing on a daily basis.
• Finally decided on a WEB cam to use. The ToUcam proved to work well on the PC, MAC and under LINUX. However, Philips is no longer producing the unit for the U.S.. So I am now looking for another unit of the same quality.
• Tracking a number of purchases and so far things are going well in that department.

LIGO II/Advanced R&D (Sanders)

>From: Janeen Romie

AdLIGO Suspensions

Nothing to report.

Advanced LIGO Suspensions

Mode Cleaner:  Working on the comments collected from both LIGO and GEO on the drawings. Larry Jones is helping to implement new ideas to some of the designs. Russell Jones and I are trying to migrate all of the drawings to SOLIDWORKS and incorporate the new templates and notation. (Previously the drawings were a mixture of AutoCAD and SOLIDWORKS.)

Prototypes for SURFS:  Workshop has almost completed the parts that are required for the tests planned for the 2 SURF students.  I accepted the majority of these parts this week and have checked through them.

Coil Assembly:  Russell Jones and I have finished the drawings and assembly for the coil former and clamp. These have now been sent to get 3 sets made at a local machine shop in Glasgow.  The plan is to follow these 3 assemblies through to the point where they have the LED, PD's, cabling etc.. installed.

>From: Riccardo DeSalvo (prepared by Hareem Tariq)

Mike

• Calculated the voltage needed to displace the Glasmet sample (in Q-Factor measurements). The displacement observed varies as the voltage squared. It looks like 32 volts (like we used last week) causes a deflection of about 1 micrometer (which explains why we didn't see it). At 100 volts, though, we should see a deflection on the order of a millimeter. I hope to try this next week in Phil's lab.
• Purchased 1.5 in. x 1.75 in. prototype circuit boards from MarVac for use in our mock heat capacity puck. I cut a piece off from this that is just large enough to be mounted on the resistivity puck. I designed a circuit and soldered it to the board. I haven't connected the leads to the resistivity puck yet, because it is clear now that we need to make our own cable. Hareem and I found a nice cable in the Synchrotron. I may need to purchase a 12-pin lemo on Monday to get it working. I also found some thermal conductive glue which I used to connect the heater with one of the thermistors on the circuit.
• I've started the documentation of our Cryostat problem, as recommended by Riccardo. This includes an estimate of time spent and Helium usage.
• Of course, more work (and problems) with the Cryostat. Hareem and I replaced the pressure gauge that failed when Bryan and Mike were here to replace our last cryopump. Since then, we have been doing a very thorough troubleshooting procedure. It appears that we are able to achieve HiVac with both the Model 6000 and the computer attached and keep it there (very stable) overnight. This was very promising. However, some problems were experienced as soon as we tried the same thing with the baffles and sample installed. We're not sure the exact cause yet. A TTO Measurement on QDs Nickel sample was attempted on Friday, but the data collected indicates a problem either with the cryostat or with our measurement parameters.
• Calls to QD haven't produced much of a response -- most of the people are away (including Mark), and Ron and Robert were not able to tell me the status of their cryopump tests (on two occasions) which leads me to believe they may have dropped the ball on this problem again. I will need to talk to Stefano early next week.
• Kelin and I mounted the optical disc in Phil's lab.

• Found a problem when the (AuSn)Ti braze failed to wet or melt the MoRuB sample even at 500 degree Celsius. Apparently the MoRuB when annealed to high temperatures >450 Celsius, undergoes physical changes and my sample became brittle at 500 degrees. I found out that this effect had already been investigated by Bill Johnson. et al. in 1982 and the results were published.
• I can push the crystalline effect to higher annealing temperatures by reducing the Boron content in the MoRuB alloy. Therefore I made another alloy with 16 percent atomic weight of Boron instead of 18 percent. Prepared alloy with 18 percent atomic weight of Boron as well so that tests can be conducted on both alloys, under same conditions, for the effects of annealing as well as brazing.
• To solve the problem of brazing I prepared another braze with AuSi alloy. The advantage of this composition is that it is a simpler composition with a single eutectic at 363 Celsius and no intermolecular bonds form at higher temperatures.
• Prepared samples for splat quencher of MoRuBSilAlP, MoRuBSi, MoRuB.

• Several nice LIGO reports from Szabi.
• Alessandro reported on horizontal and the new vertical accelerometers developments.
• Akiteru reported on the SAS Fabry Perot interferometer results in Hongo, 0.6 micron R.M.S. above 100 mHz fully passive (before switching on the inertial damping).
• Riccardo reported on interest in developing low  frequency GW interferometers and on glassy metal advances.

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