Weekly Report for Week Ending June 6, 2002

The LIGO Executive Committee Agenda for Monday  June 10, 2002 will be:

 (Meeting time: 10:30 am Pacific Time)

Open meeting 10:30 - 11:30

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

Special Items:

Special Announcements:

Weekly Report Highlights
 

LSC Issues (Weiss)

Subject: Notes from LSC Executive Meeting May 31, 2002

to: LSC executive committee
from: R. Weiss June 6, 2002
concerning: Notes from the LSC Executive Committee meeting May 31, 2002

Data analysis and "upper limit"  group activities (Alan Wiseman)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
An LDAS "boot camp" was held at the University of
Wisconsin@Milwaukee May 13 and 14. Approximately seven people in addition
to the UWM group attended.

Face/face meetings of the "upper limit" groups were held in the
past two weeks. A biweekly LSC wide phone call is planned to facilitate
communication between the "upper limit" groups and the rest of the LSC.

Barry suggested a meeting to bring the data analysis of the E7 in the
various groups to closure in preparation for the S1 run.

Report on the current state of the detectors prior to S1 (R. Weiss)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The 2km at Hanford and the 4km at Livingston in the past two weeks
have surpassed the strain sensitivity of the 40 meter system in 1994
and the TAMA detector in June 2001. The improvement is a factor of
10 or better in strain sensitivity relative to the LIGO interferometers
during E7.

Much of the effort in the weeks before S1 will be dedicated to facilitate
locking and improve the robustness of the interferometers

Discussion of the new roles for ASIS (B.Allen, P. Brady)
------------------------------------
A proposal for ASIS to play a dual role with dual membership was discussed
and accepted. ASIS will become one of the connections of the LSC to the
source modeling community while also performing its previous
function of developing new source detection algorithms for the LSC.
Those members of ASIS with MOU with Laboratory will have access to LIGO data
and will be authors on LIGO papers. ASIS will also include members with particular
interest in source modeling but who have not become LSC members and not
developed MOU with the Laboratory. The ASIS committee will hold meetings of different
types some closed to members who are not involved in the data analysis.

The proposed organization of ASIS can clearly be changed if it proves awkward
and unworkable, however, alternatives considered by the Executive Committee to make
better connection to the source modeling community were less attractive. These
included:

1) Making no change. The Executive Committee was of the opinion that there is
scientific value in fostering source modelling and a mutual benefit in the desire
by both NASA and NSF to bring the source modeling closer to the observations.
Furthermore, ASIS members dedicating most of their time to algorithm development
would benefit intellectually from the closer coupling to the source modelers.

2) Separating the functions and asking the "upper limit" groups or subsequent
source detection groups to take on the algorithm development. Although
the development of special software is driven by the needs of the source detection
groups and will be carried out in them, the Executive Committee considers
it important to retain a group within the LSC that fosters and oversees algorithm
development in general.

Next LSC Executive Committee meeting
-------------------------------------
Friday June 28, 2002 at 11AM EDT

LIGO I Construction/LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

LIGO Operations--Administration

There was a site teleconference held on Thursday, June 06, 2002.  The following items were discussed:

Action 106: Outfitting and Populating the Building at Livingston, Ed Chargois will visit Landover, MD (GSA collection point) next week to check out some furniture.  The plan for floor layout for the staging building at Livingston has not been finalized.  Gerry to provide sketches.

Timeline for spendout 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.  Gerry to prepare change request.  Otto to provide similar change request for Hanford ($30,000) excluding laboratory equipment.

Livingston Staging Building: Punch List status--biggest concerns relate to mechanical issues and floor repairs in the auditorium.

Building at Hanford: Otto is seeking cost estimates for traffic control measures and will provide a change request.  Stainless siding supposed to be delivered by tomorrow.

LSC:  The LSC is at Hanford mid-August.  Livingston may be sending a l;arger contingent than usual.

Safety: Bill Tyler is preparing a procedure to re-emphasize the process for reporting injury incidents.  Injuries must be reported to Workman's Comp office within 24 hours.

The list of current actions revised to reflect the status of open actions assigned through June 06, 2001 may be found at ACTION LIST.

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

• Assisted the Detector Group (H. Arnamdula) with packing and shipping of eleven (11) Substrates, Serial Numbers 8, 9,1 0, 13, 17, 8093, 8099, 8131, 8142, 8145, and 8173 to MLD Technologies (D. Curry), Eugene, OR.  Account Number P157746.
• Assisted the Data Analysis Group (S. Anderson) with packing and shipping of ten (10) boxes of assorted shelving hardware to MIT (K. Bayer).  Account Number LIGO.DAT-1.5.1-NSFLIGO.FY02ON.
• Coordinating moving with I. Baldon for the relocation of Vegesh Parameswariah and spouse from Baton Rogue, LA to the LHO tri-cities area.  A relocation survey is in process.
• Coordinating moving with D. Tomlinson for the relocation of Julien Sylvestre and spouse from Cambridge, MA to LIGO CIT.  Relocation survey is in process.

>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

• No report. (vacation).

ACTIVITY

• Processed 6 invoices.
• Processed a handful of electronic documents.
• Progress continues on conversion of old charge account files to electronic form which included the arduous task of transporting and re-organization of a dozen plus boxes of these files.
• Transported the remaining contractual closeout files to the sub-basement storage area and completed the re-organization of these files as well.

 

06/06/02	Packages	Faxes
In	38	26
Out	7	33

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

Press here for ACCOUNTS PAYABLE HISTORY DATA .

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

• Completed the no-cost extension on the JPL Work order for John Klohoker.  Completed change order #14 to MCI.  Completed the basic order to Intelligent Video Systems and completing the fixed price contract.  Working on change order 17 to MIT which adds funds for additional (last FY 2002) 4 months of budgeted costs.
• Working with Norman Gordon, Ed Jasnow, and Superior Jig on resolving the issue with the Calfornia tax auditor pertaining to the audit of our vendor and tax which was not collected nor owing on government equipment that shipped to Caltech.

• Worked on monthly reports for May.  The reports have now been posted on the network.
• Instructed the office of Sponsored Research regarding posting in Oracle of the remaining $14 million of the FY2002 award which has been awarded by the NSF.
• Discovered a problem in the allocation of budgets in Oracle between Construction and R&D and will be working with Project Accounting to try to resolve it.

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

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

• HYTEC: CO No. 22, incorporating a no-cost extension through Dec. 31, 02, was released to Purchasing.
• MIT: CO No. 17, allotting the reminder of FY 2002 funds, was released to Purchasing.
• HYTEC: CO No. 22, incorporating a no-cost extension through Dec. 31, 02, was released to Purchasing.

CONSTRUCTION:

• Punch list items continue to be worked on the LLO Staging Building.  The two main items are the wooden stage floor of the auditorium and the side panels.  Ed Jasnow has worked out an agreement with the crane subcontractor to put in the end stops by the middle of June.
• Construction on the LHO OSB East building continues to go well .  The new siding of the correct length has been ordered and will be installed when received.  The purchase order for the audiov/visual equipment has been issued to Intelligent Video Systems of Richland, WA, in the amount of just over $80,000.

• An instruction will be issued regarding the reporting of on-site accidents.  This is as a result of the late reporting of the accident of Rich Riesen at LLO.

SUPPORT (Baldon, Torres, Lloyd, Tischler)

• Processed the paper work for five (5) new/revised trip and there are seven (7) trips in various stages of completion before ticketing can be done and paper work completed.
• Completed seventeen (17) Expense Reports and there are three (3) reports yet to be done.  Contacted several travelers who have outstanding Expense Reports due for previous trips.  Asked for their cooperation in sending me their receipts so that I could close the trip(s) in question.
• Reconciled three (3) 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 June 3, 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.

• Processed two weeks of incoming invoices for payment. Tracked and followed up on invoice problems, and reviewed and recorded payments processed by Esther during the period of May 20-31. For the total number of incoming invoices received for this period see "Cost Schedule Control Systems" report by Esther Cunningham.
• Continue to monitor contract and blanket order encumbrance and notify task managers when supplements are needed.
• Began updating PO Log Books (200 new entries, Jan-May).
• Jim continues with data entry in the LIGO database and helping out in the DCC.

• Attended a two-day class on MS Word 2000 where I learned about, among other things, hyper linking within documents.
• Sent out requests for home information to: CIT, MIT, LLO, and LHO.  Received 90 responses in two days following the request, I expect more responses this week.
• Notified V. Kondrashov of LSC documents available for posting on the web.
• Continue to track progress of orders placed for M. Smith while he's away, and submitting the incoming orders to the 40m staff.
• Arranged for another eye exam and laser training.  The Caltech Weekly Update contains dates for upcoming laser training sessions, the next one is June 12.
• Completed the first pass to update addresses contained in the LIGO portion of alias: LSC-ALL.  Need to meet with L. Bogue, I. Petrac, and L. Wallace to verify data before the next pass.
• Placed a few Pcard orders.  Obtained information on delayed orders.  Arranged on behalf of requesters the return of some items.

• Meetings on press kit with Veronica and with Gary and Designer.  More work on photos and images re: press kit
• Work on SURF/LIGO orientation.

Advanced LIGO (Frey)

Progress Period from

Progress Period from 05.31 to 06.06

Accomplishments:

• 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.  Followed up with Peter per his communication and then did not hear back from him.
• 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.  Received progress data for progress through 5.31.02 and began processing.
• SEI - Work on action items continues.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• ISC - Continue to work preparing draft data for Mike to review / fine tune during trip to MIT.  Made new travel arrangements due to Mike's new commitments for PAC 12 at MIT the same week we were planning.  New arrangements put me at MIT on July 15.
• 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.
• Updated the plan with progress as of 05.31.02 and  posted to site.
• Sent out update data requests for progress as of 06.14.02.
• Continue to update the LASTI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Updated the plan with progress as of 05.31.02 and  posted to site.
• Sent out update data requests for progress as of 06.14.02.
• Project Plan for the 40-Meter Lab Upgrade continues.
• Updated the plan with progress as of 05.31.02 and  posted to site.
• Sent out update data requests for progress as of 06.14.02.
• Cost Book Tool.
• ROSTER DATABASE:
• Continue work on my action items providing BK with needed data.
• Ran a report for Irena of only Advanced LIGO participants from LSC.
• COST BOOK DATABASE:
• Made corrections to report formats as pointed out by Dennis Coyne.
• Provided Dennis with corrected reports for his use in discussions with GEO.
• Gang of 5+:
• Continue work on procurement documents per request of Phil / Gina / Dot.
• Issued draft for Dot and Gina to review.
• 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 with progress through 5.31.
• 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 July 15th.
• 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 06.14.02 and  post to site by the 18th.
• Will Continue to update the LASTI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 06.14.02 and  post to site by the 18th.
• Will continue updating the 40 meter schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 06.14.02 and  post to site by the 18th.
• 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.

• We are assembling a draft of the quarterly progress report for the end of May.
• Version 0.2 of the budgets for FY 2003 has been distributed for comment.

The following additional change request has been submitted:
 

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

• No report (vacation).

Quality/Safety (Tyler)

• Nothing significant to report this week.

LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) and Interferometer Operations (Raab)

Summary of Commissioning Activities at LIGO Hanford Observatory (compiled by F. Raab)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(see ilog for details - if it's not in the ilog, it didn't happen...)
 

It has taken longer than expected to get all hardware and software ready to go. As this is written it looks like we have a clear shot to lock 'em both up for E8. Good thing, we still have 40 hours to go and the company has arrived.
 

4k IFO investigations
---------------------
Still shaking down new software. As of this afternoon, it appears naming is fixed, filters are mostly fixed, and a few problems remain but should not stop the show. Thanks to Stan, Alex, Ash and Dave for hanging in there! In the background we have been able to make some progress on commissioning. at spec, but it should not hurt us for a while. A side benefit was the removal of glitches that were apparent previously, due to actuator range issues that are now cured.
 

2k IFO investigations
---------------------
Rolf, Dave and Richard have struggled immensely to overcome an instability in the CDS system that would shut down controllers and disorient optics. Sometimes the system would run for 1/2 a day and sometimes only for 1/2 a minute. The trend was getting worse over time. After many iterations of hardware and software it is still causing problems and is receiving lots of attention. We have continued other work as possible.
 

A gain boost was added to the common-mode servo to further reduce noise below 100 Hz, by orders of magnitude. The net effect is to bring RMS displacment below 3e-13 m, within 1/2 order of magnitude of target. (See ilog entry at http://blue.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/ilog/pub/ilog.cgi?group=detector&date_to_view=06/02/2002&anchor_to_scroll_to=2002:06:02:19:19:38-daniel for details.) Beam jitter measurements were made at mode-cleaner output to see whether drive signals from main interferometer or winds cause large changes. They do not. De-whitening filter switching transient problem is now cured. The interferometer was totally disabled for an evening due to huge glitches on PSL. This was later traced to rerouting a tempertature sensing cable to the chiller. New intensity servo also implemented on this PSL.
 

FACILITIES
------------------
The laboratory Building construction is more or less on schedule. The
contractor is installing the windows and sheet rock. In the auditorium the
acoustical clouds are partially installed. The plumbing rough in is
complete, electrical rough in is still on going. Only flashing is remaining
to be complete on the siding.
 

LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO) and Interferometer Operations (Coles)

Interferometer Commissioning: We made multiple attempts to fully implement the "super" common mode servo which feeds back from the arms via the MC to the laser all the way to DC. We were unable to get it to work stably. The central problem appears to be a difficulty engaging the LSC de-whitening filters without creating transients which disturb the laser frequency. Because the beginning of S1 is only about three weeks away, we are restoring the interferometer to the conventional common mode topology and will now concentrate on preparing a stable operating environment for S1. Current displacement sensitivity is about 5.e-16 m/rthz at 100 Hz, dominated by DAC noise below 300 Hz. We will revisit the "super" approach following S1.

LDAS:
Together with Rus, Mike and Ken finished building 3 racks.
Playing with DataJoin Replication Administration tool which gives more control over administering replication than db2cc but unfortunately only runs under Windows. In particular, it allows configuring external CCD tables for staging data for multi-target replication. db2cc does not provide a way to configure CCD tables.
Did all the paperwork for the new equipment: sent receipts to those who need them, tagged all the equipment and filled the papers (serial number, tag number, etc.).
Flattened the LDAS network.
Tested the new switch.
CDS: We fixed the DAQ problem at the south end station. The brown out during our last major electrical storm caused the -5 VDC power supply to trip. The inability to switch in the dewhitening filters at the west end station was chased down to a faulty output on one of the xycom 220's. That board has been replaced. Installation of the piezo motor/sei servo at the west end will be complete this week. We also restarted the ISX1000 in the mass storage room in an effort increase the network speed. There is a noticable improvement but, it could be better. Further investigation is ongoing. Chethan is installing two new sunblades 1000's in the control room, with 4 new flat screens. We have completed the replacement of the power and fiber down the south arm. The fiber will be terminated on Tuesday. We have also received the patch panels and termination kits for both of the new fiber cables that go from the mass storage room to the communication room in the new building. Those cables will also be terminated next week (Wooley)
 
 

Detector/Technical Support (Whitcomb, Coyne)

40 Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)

• Suspended mass mode cleaner (Ugolini, Miyakawa, Vass, Abbott, Taylor):
• Dennis and Steve have now aligned our three MC suspended optics (in air), and fringes can be seen on the optic faces (with the cameras).
• All yaw biases have been approximately zeroed out by moving the suspension towers. Pitch biases are as large as a volt; their pattern is consistent with what was measured by Betsy when she hung them.
• They placed mirrors to send the MC reflected and transmitted beams out of the IFO vacuum onto the first optical table (AP1).
• We still await beam tubes and optical table enclosures before we can send the reflected and transmitted beams to the sensing optics, and attempt to acquire lock. We expect these by the end of this week, or early next week (see below).
• We also need to complete the wiring and cabling for the MC length control system. Ben and Bob are making the remaining cables; this should be complete by early next week.
• And we need the EPICS controls of the length control system; this requires some IOC software to be installed by Jay, hopefully next week.
• With Ben's help, Osamu has tuned up the MC-reflected length sensing RF PD and the MC-transmitted RFAM PD, so that they reject 2nd harmonics (of the 29.486 MHz MC reflected sideband) by 45 dB. these PDs are now ready for installation.
• Osamu has laid out the MC reflected and transmitted sensing optics, but will not install the actual lenses and beam splitters until the sensing table enclosure is installed next week. He has all the needed parts, except for some missing pieces to the electrooptic shutter; so we'll try to work at low power until we can put the EOS together.
• We'll first try to acquire lock with an input beam of the wrong polarization, as this will reduce the finesse of the MC cavity by a factor ~ 10.
• Implementation of the alignment control system (WFSs, digital feedback control, PZT steering mirrors) will hopefully come together in the next month. This requires more hardware (WF sensors, WFS whitening board, PZT driver, and a fast controls VME crate); all this is in the works. This also requires digital ASC control software for the MC, which doesn't exist at the sites; but Jay can adapt the main IFO ASC software to the task.
• At the moment, our north Watec camera can only see MC1. Larry Jones has ordered another in-vacuum mirror, and a mirror support jig, so that it can see both MC1 and MC3.
• Suspension Controllers and Mode Cleaner length controls (B. Abbott, Heefner, Taylor, Ugolini, Miyakawa):
• 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 and into Auto-BURT; finalizing the timing system; and getting an AutoBURT-restore system set up.
• During the summer, we will fully characterize the suspension control system; tuning the gains for all degrees of freedom; measuring the transfer functions and noise.
• Bob has cleaned up, strain-releifed, and labelled some of the hastily-installed cabling for the suspension controllers.
• PSL (Ugolini, Abbott, Miyakawa, Vass):
• The PSL has been behaving stably for the last week.
• Dennis and Ben investigated the ~7 kHz noise in the PSL frequency stabilization servo (FSS). They traced it to the FSS servo board. When they switched the polarity of the EOM drive on the board, the 7 kHz noise peak went away. They also had to flip the sign of the slow control loop. It is not clear why this problem didn't exist before, or why flipping the polarity on the EOM drive could cause or fix the problem.
• Ben also found that the negative voltage regulators were oscillating due to improperly low shunt capacitor values on the output, and he fixed that, too.
• Once these problems were fixed, Dennis was able to bring the PMC servo up to full gain, adjusting the demod phase, and it maintains lock just fine.
• Osamu has re-aligned the two EOM's in the IOO optical train (fMC = 29.486 MHz and f1 = 33.207 MHz) and measured > 94% transmission through both EOMs (the 2nd one is only broad-band AR-coated, so we expect this level of transmission). The beam profile now looks fine. The IOO optics have now been re-aligned all the way to the MC.
• Bottom line: the PSL appears to be performing as well as it ever has.
• DAQ (Rolf, Ivanov): We still need to review and update master.config with all the slow EPICS channels from the digital suspension control system that we might want to log.
• Computing:
• Alex, Jay, and Dennis have moved all VME cpu boot targets (about a dozen computers) from various machines to one place in op140m:/cvs/cds/caltech. (Exception: the DAQ framebuilder software running on fb40m).
• AutoBURT.req files exist for many, but not all, systems. We are reviewing what we need. The autoBURT system works, but not reliably: sometimes, snapshots just aren't taken, we don't know why.
• We've been installing lots of new computers, moving computers around, and having apparent problems with ethernet cables. Dennis will do a survey of the situation, improve the ethernet cabling if possible, and label everything.
• We continue to see network problems on our wireless martian network (40MARS), but it's very intermittent so very difficult to diagnose.
• Lisa is preparing a tape backup system for our disk server, op140m.
• Optical sensing systems (Smith, at VIRGO): 40M FOCAL LENGTH, ZOOM OPTICAL LEVER OBJECTIVE LENS: An afocal design with a telecentric final focus lens was analyzed and was found to be acceptably stable with respect to the tolerance of the placement of the lens elements. Working drawing are in process, using an Italian language version of ACAD. The overall length including zoom lens front element and QPD sensor is approximately 11 in. A prototype of the lens system will be built and tested when I return to CIT later in June. An intensity stabilized 830 nm laser with beam expander/collimator will be purchased for use as the optical lever beam.
• STACIS seismic isolation system (Ugolini): Two bad STACIS isolators were shipped back to TMC for repair. They have been repaired, and have arrived. We will re-install them soon.
• Facilities and vacuum envelope (Vass, Jones):
• We continue to await a new connector to repair the pneumatic nitrogen leak in our V1 valve. We expect it any day now. After that, Steve will finally replace our two turbopumps with new pumps with dry scroll forepumps. Then we'll be able to pump down again.
• Steve installed reinforcement tubes on the bent adjustable bellows rods on our 13m MC beam tube.
• We plan to pump down by the end of next week or the beginning of the following week. We hope to have the MC under length control before then.
• Steve (with help from Bob) installed the first of our optical-quality beam ports, in its 2.5degree tilt flange.
• From Larry: SP&MC table cover, repaired AP1 table cover, Camera housings, and beam tubes, were all expected today; hope they'll come by the beginning of next week.
• South Annex Bake Ovens (Taylor, Cardenas):
• Bob sent three malfunctioning RGA heads out for evaluation / repair. He has received estimates for the repairs, and is proceeding.
• The new in-vacuum mirror and mirror mount for our Watec camera will need to be baked next week; Bob has a small bake oven ready.
• The 2nd new large bake oven (oven #F) is about 1/3 finished; Bob is waiting on some parts.
• In his spare time, Bob is going to try to organize the cabinets in the clean room so that baked parts are easier to find.

Thermal Noise Interferometer (Libbrecht)

no report

LASTI (Zucker)

no report

Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)

Simulation and Modeling (Bhawal)
============================

Working with TAMA
--------------------
At GWADW in Elba, Hiro talked with Dr.Sato, Dr.Arai and Dr.Ohashi about
the continuation of the modeling efforts. The MOU attachment is already
(supposedly) updated to cover the near future activities. One specific
topic discussed was the effect of misalignments on the performance of the
power recycling configuration.

Working with SLU
-------------------
On May 16th, Hiro discussed with Dr.Yoshida about the collaboration with
SLU on modeling related activities, involving undergraduate students.
One practical issue is the installation of e2e on their machine, and this
will be completed after Dr.Yoshida comes back from Japan in the middle of June.

SimLIGO
---------
(Matt) Implemented SimLIGO frequency noise and common mode servo.
A bug was found in the Michelson summation cavity when the laser
frequency was changed as a part of the common mode servo, and Biplab
is looking into it.

FFT and E2E for Mode Mismatch
------------------------------
(Biplab) In order to understand the capability of the modal model
( what kind of physics, under what kind of condition, how accurately , etc)
e2e calculation is compared with the FFT calculation. In general, they seem
to agree each other, but some differences are observed, especially fields
in the Michelson cavity. One question raised was how similar or different
the "locked" state of FFT is compared to the real locking mechanism, which
is used in e2e. A few approaches are suggested and are being investigated.

Code development and maintenance
---------------------------------
(Hiro)
Keep working on feature enhancements and bug fixes.
Updated parameters  of the DAC noise to be more consistent with measurements.
Started to revise the "Getting started" document to be included in the next release.
Revised "Primitive reference manual" to include new features added and clarify confusing points.

Alfi
-----
(Melody)
- Continuing on the implementation of the 'Find' feature for alfi5.
(Bruce)
- Implemented long waited JUNK feature, and improving it based on early feedback.
 

LIGO Data Analysis System
======================

Software Systems (Blackburn)
========================

The focus this week has been on fixing mid-size to large-size memory leaks that have crept into LDAS during our rapid development. As of today we have been reasonably successful in removing these. A 450 KB per inspiral dataPipeline leak was isolated and removed. This allowed us to be able to run the dataPipeline jobs through the dataConditionAPI for a full night without a restart. There is still a 10 to 20 KB leak in the dataConditionAPI which we are looking for which will force a restart every couple of days on systems with the limited performance of our development and test systems. We also tracked down and fixed a memory leak in the frameCPP C++ I/O frame library. This leak only occurred when reading in processed frames and resulted in a stunning 4 GB per minute leak when processing the Short Fourier Transform (SFT) frames produced by the periodic DSO. We have also found a significant memory management issue in the frameAPI. While this memory management issue does not leak memory, it cause significant amounts of excess memory to be used and slows down the frameAPI by factors. This issue should be resolved in a couple of days.

We have been testing LDAS overnight on three to four different systems with pre-release software. Between 5000 and 10000 jobs are being sent through a night to track down problems with the system so that we have a reliable efficient release to turn over to the authors of DSO search codes early next week. The two most significant bugs we have discovered in this process are a server socket circular buffer mangling issue in the dataConditionAPI which causes about one out of fifty jobs to fail when the jobs are not all identical in resource requirements, and a problem recognizing when a remote data resource is available for usage in a job. These are both actively being worked on and hopefully will be fixed soon.

The reliability of this pre-release of LDAS is still very unstable. Failure rates are fluctuating up and down on almost a nightly basis. This has been do to the unusually large about of code development that has had to go on so late in a “development-release” cycle. As of mid week this week, it looks like we are starting to ramp down the number of changes to the code and seeing a hint that the system will be in very good shape by the middle of next week.

Several meeting were held with week to coordinate plans for LDAS to produce reduced frames during the E8 run this weekend. The reduced frames will have approximately 130 channels in them and fast channels will be resampled by a factor of 2x. This will result in about a 5:1 ratio between full frames and the reduced frames. We will also spend some time running a DSO that makes heavy use of the frameAPI concurrent with the jobs in LDAS that reduce frames.

We also begun holding meeting with the LSC to coordinate schedules and plans for the Science Run. This activity will ramp up over the next couple of weeks as we zero in on the specifics of what we will be performing with LDAS beginning a couple of week before and carrying through the Science Run.

Hardware Systems (Anderson)
========================

Caltech
-------
(Al Wilson)

* Sent master-node files to the sites. These will be used to build the new
  Beowulf nodes.

* Final testing of the System Imager procedure.

* Assisted Ed and Masha setting up the Password Request page on the ldas-sw
  https.

* Placed an order with Ed to get "bakers racks" for the cit system.

* Received the Cat-5 cable order, not what I wanted so returned the calve to
  shipper
 
 

MIT
---
(Keith Bayer)

* Replaced Sun LCD monitor (shipped defective one back to Sun).

* PC Raid Box:
  * decided on 16 node rack mount unit.

  * getting quotes for PC equipment.

  * researching power specs on rackmount unit.
 

Livingston
----------
(Igor Yakushin)

* Together with Rus, Mike and Ken finished building 3 racks.

* Playing with DataJoin Replication Administration tool which gives more
  control over administering replication than db2cc but unfortunately only
  runs under Windows. In particular, it allows configuring external CCD
  tables for staging data for multi-target replication. db2cc does not
  provide a way to configure CCD tables.

* Did all the paperwork for the new equipment: sent receipts to those
  who need them, tagged all the equipment and filled the papers (serial
  number, tag number, etc.).

* Flattened the LDAS network.

* Tested the new switch.
 
 

Hanford
-------
(Greg Mendell)

* Ran tests on the new QFS file system and found that an "ls" command
  run on a shared_reader and the NFS client of a shared_reader did not
  alway show the latest files (in fact an "ls" command could be days out
  of date).  Worked with Dan Kozak, Dave Barker, and Stuart Anderson to
  solve the problem.  On advice from Sun we have upgraded qfs to version
  3.5-57 and added "invalid=0" to the mount options in /etc/vfstab  for
  shared_readers. (This mount option should cause file system changes to
  update immediately on the shared_readers.)  I am rerunning my tests.

* Flattened the LDAS network at LHO to place all servers and beowulf
  nodes on the same private network.

* Began installation of the new 64 node beowulf cluster, with help from
  Larry Wallace.

* Preparing disk space and the writing of data to tape during E8.
 

General Computing (Wallace)
=======================

MIT:
(Keith)
-Installed new gcc / pine software
-Continued to install MU7 on Solaris machines
-Investigating / testing wireless options for PAC meeting (end of month)
-Trimmed relay-domains on mail-server (attempt to limit spam)
-Relayed information on network performance testing.

Livingston:
Nothing to report.

Hanford:
(Christine)
- Set up another new guest PC and installed the standard configuration
software on it.
- Started cleaning personal files off 9 old PCs which will be used as
spares and some sent to Larry at Caltech.
- Created a new account for a SURF student and helped get her laptop on
our network and installed some software.  Showed her how to use our
computers and helped get her settled in.
- Lots of user support and new accounts for E8 visitors.  Cleaned up the
Computer User's Room for E8 visitors and put out more ehternet hubs.
- Attended a meeting about new and increased bandwidth network
connections.
- Followed up on a complaint received that one of our computers was
probing ports on someone's computer.  Tracked down the offending
computer and owner.  Ran virus scan software and trojan scan software on
the offending computer, nothing was found.  The computer is a Macintosh
and the owner is a long term visitor.
-Went over a number of issues with Larry and will be working on the VRVS
system and some of the computer security items while he is visiting.

(Larry)
-Toured the new building with Richard M. and will be talking with Otto
concerning noise issues with the computer room.
-Talked with Richard and Christine concerning the meeting with NoaNet.
This meeting is to try and narrow down what is needed, to get the Observatory
more bandwidth.
-Worked with Greg on installing LDAS equipment.

CIT:
(Mike)
-Loaded a PC with Win98 and all General Computing software; plus set this
workstation up on the second floor in RM: 252.
-Surplussed some old equipment that was in a cubicle, that I had to setup for
a visitor's workstation. Then I setup this cubicle with a PC and Monitor.
-Worked on the Pherkab copying DATA over from old server to new server,
setting up ODBC drivers, and running some tests.
-Setup a loaner laptop for Florance K. that included reinstalling some software,setting up a dialup account and configuring email.
Also, installed a zip drive on her office computer.
-Moved a portable 9000 BTU air conditioner for 40M to use. This unit
came out of the server room. This is to be used as a test to get a better idea
of what is needed for that area of the 40M.
-This was a busy week for onsite/phone support that included restoring data
from backups, software/hardware troubleshooting, upgrading software and
printer problems.

(Lisa)
- About halfway through building the new luna.
-Finished up the build of alterf that Larry started.  Alterf is a sandbox that
is now available for simulations.
-Put up a couple of new FAQs.  For those who have not recently looked over the
GC FAQs, you will find some useful information at the following URL:
http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/docuserv/computing/faq/faq.html
-Created some new accounts and helped out the new surf students.
-Did some research on wep including intermixing non-orinoco wep schemes and
40bit wep compatibility.
- Still working out some glitches with the permissions on the lsc-all and
citonly mailing lists.
-Ran patches on bellatrix
-Tried to run patches on atria but the pkginfo for one of the core architecture
components was corrupt and atria will need a rebuild.
-Heavier than usual round of user support.

(Larry)
-Started new OS loads on the sandbox units. Alterf is now finished with four
other units at various stages. These are all SUN boxes with multiple CPU's.
-Worked a number os spam and forged e-mail issues. A number of the latest
problems are from Europe with spoofed names of those that had attended the ELBA
conference. All that have attended the conference are encouraged to change
their password and those with a PC should run virus-scan on their entire system.We are also blocking e-mail from a number of locations in Europe. The list
grows on a daily basis.
-Worked a number of procurement related issues. Mostly, supplies and checking
on late deliveries.
-Working on various documents covering Budget, Policy, Security and network
usage.
-Updated the web usage statistics for LIGO. Because, of a corrupted file there
are a number of weeks in May that have been eliminated and pretty much all of
March is gone.
-Still looking into security items for the remote control room. So far the
remote control rooms are being used by a limited number of people.
-Working a number of logistical issues for different users needing special
setups.

(Veronica)
- Made several updates to the LIGO home pages. Most of the time was spent
working on the webpages for LIGO Press and Media Kit. Attended a meeting
on the subject, which also covered the design of handout folders.
Attended a presentation by the Caltech Digital Media Center on the basics
of platter burning.
Working on the Policies and Procedures webpages.
The Elba Conference transparencies are now almost completely online, with
just a few still missing. Collecting photos for an online slideshow,
similar to the one at the last year's Aspen Conference.
- CaJAGWR: updated the seminars page. Met with a student from TAPIR to
discuss how-to of digital video; he is the one who records a series of
TAPIR lectures. The same setup would be useful for LIGO (i.e., taping LIGO
seminars and posting them online for those at the sites to view).
 
 

LIGO II/Advanced R&D (Sanders)

From: Janeen Romie <romie_j@ligo.caltech.edu>

AdLIGO Suspensions
Blade maraging steel has been delivered from Alloys International. This is blade stock for the RM and ETM controls prototypes. We will start blade procurement soon. Ric in the Physics machine shop is making MC prototype blades. He has made two from the annealed (American) material and two from the age hardened (French/GEO) material. The blades now need to be heat treated after a bit more forming. We've consulted Riccardo and Marcel Hammond for techniques and baking recipes.
We are preparing the Synchrotron lab for our SURF students, who'll be here in a week or so.

Dennis has determined that Algor doesn't like parts with millimeters for units, which explains some faulty results I've received from Algor for some natural mode analysis of the MC structure. I've checked and changing to centimeters seems to do the trick. I'll continue the analysis in centimeters to keep Algor happy.

Working on updating the SUS schedule for Thomas. I should be submitting a redlined schedule to him tomorrow morning.

Working on a table of callouts for oversized tapped holes, based on Hytec experience, to avoid galling. I'll distribute it when complete.

Still waiting for a GinGin PTA to buy new osems.

Coordinating Jay Heefner and Harry Ward to make sure we get a complete electronics system for the first MC controls prototype in August.

Still playing phone tag with IDEAS/EDS Unigraphics Solutions technical support rep. about the best translator from Solidworks to IDEAS and back. Quite frustrating.

Coordinating with GEO and Todd Etzel to fabricate and test the controls prototypes local control sensor/actuators. I gave the circuit boards, LEDs and photodiodes to Todd. I've given Todd an idea of when the heads (fabricated in Glasgow) will be delivered to him to start assembly and when we need them back.
 

From: ctorrie <ctorrie@ligo.caltech.edu>
ADVANCED LIGO SUSPENSIONS

Mode Cleaner

Continuing to work on obtaining a complete set of drawings that can be sent out to machine shop in the Pasadena or Los Angeles area.
Janeen Romie and Larry Jones have been  helping with this. I hope to have the parts in a machine shop by the end of June.
Janeen and I have been working with Richard in machine shop on a set of prototype blades

MIT quad.

Norna and I have been working with some measured numbers supplied by Rich Mittleman.
Rich has produced some impulse responses, see his report. These show very good damping in both pitch and longitudinal and as a result show that the changes implemented on the quad at MIT have been a success.
There is one more set of physical parameters of the quad that we are investigating.

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

Eric,
first summer student arriving, welcome.
Starting working on glassy metal film x-ray micro densitometry.

Hareem
Splatting more samples.  Working on AuSi brazing alloy.

Aso
Back from Hanford, calculating speing constant for flex joints.

Mike
Ordered heat conductivity epoxy for thermal conductivity measurements, prepared heat capacity dummy puck.  Also making special patch cable for heat capacity sensing.
Thermal conductivity measurements, perhaps seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  Hi-Vac working after changing also the pressure gauge and fixing cabling problem.

Kelin
Building setup for Q measurement in West Bridge subbasement lab.

Ric Hareem
Restarted creep measurement on June 3rd, acquisition had stopped since May 13th due to a software interference.
 

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