Weekly Report for Week Ending January 16, 2003

The LIGO Executive Committee Agenda for Monday  January 20, 2003 will be:

CANCELLED DUE TO HOLIDAY
 

Special Items:

Special Announcements:

 At Caltech: The following talk may be of interest:

@Caltech
SCIENCE, ETHICS, AND PUBLIC POLICY SEMINAR
Date: January 24, 2003 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: 25 Baxter - Find on Campus Map
"A Non-Expert Investigates Experts: A Long Term Sociological Study of Gravitational Wave Scientists," Harold M. Collins, Andrew W. Mellon Visiting Professor of History, Caltech, and professor of sociology, Cardiff University.
 

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2003 10:55:28 -0800
To: excomm@ligo.caltech.edu
From: "Gary H. Sanders" <sanders@ligo.caltech.edu>
Subject: The S2 Interferometer Configuration Freeze (LIGO -M030008-00-M)

In order to assure stability in entering into a science run, to facilitate operator expertise, integration of the Lab and LSC shift presence and awareness of the interferometer state, and to balance commissioning progress with consolidation of the performance gains into a stable, scientifically useful instrument set, we have followed the practice of freezing the interferometer configurations at a significantly earlier date than the scheduled start of the planned run. Between the freeze and the initiation of the run, we expect that the interferometer operations will focus on the transition from commissioning to stable operation in a scientific mode, with a progression from tuning and minor adjustments to addressing stability and operating the entire system including the data analysis system.

Since S1, very impressive gains have been made in the interferometer sensitivities, promising a successful S2 run. Similarly, the progress in data analysis capability has advanced, also positioning LIGO for this most important milestone in our field.

The interferometers are at slightly different stages of sensitivity and commissioning maturity. In order to optimize the possibility for S2 to include comparably sensitive coincidence data from each of the three interferometers, and to focus the very small group of expert commissioners on to the critical path tasks, we will place the interferometers into a frozen configuration on different dates. We also include the E9 run schedule in making this decision.

The interferometer hardware and software will be frozen for our 3 interferometers as follows:

H1 on 17 January
L1 on 23 January
H2 on 3 February

These dates recognize the varying readiness of the interferometers and the desire to focus the remaining commissioning efforts, while preserving sufficient time to bring each instrument into stable science running by 0800 Pacific time on 14 February, the beginning of the S2 run.

The freeze cannot be defined precisely but it should mean that:

* all installations of hardware and software should be planned so that they are
completed and working by the time of the freeze.

* Broken things, both hardware and software, can be fixed.

* The DAQ channel configuration cannot be changed without S2/commissioning leadership approval.

* Commissioning can continue (e.g., tuning the filters in the LSC loops, characterizing the WFS sensors and tuning their feedback loops, etc), but any change to the operational state of the machine (e.g., a decision to use a revised filter, or to use WFS2) would require the approval of the S2/commissioning leadership.

For the management of the transition from commissioning to science running, Stan Whitcomb will serve as the S2/commissioning leader and will make the decisions on the proposed departures from the freeze as outlined above. Stan will consult as appropriate, with the observatory Heads (Fred and Mark), the commissioning leaders (Rai and Peter), and with the Lab Directorate. In addition, Keith Riles should be consulted in his role leading the LSC Detector Characterization group.

Barry and Gary

Weekly Report Highlights
 

LSC Issues (Weiss)

no report

LIGO I Construction/LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

LIGO Weekly Site Telecon (Lindquist)

There was a site teleconferences held on Thursday, January 16, 2003.  The following issues were among those discussed:
Civil Construction at Livingston----We would like to close down construction contracts at Livingston.  However, there isstill some work to be done.  There is approximately $9K open encumbrance for completed contracts that will be recovered.  Also there is approximately $57K open for completing the interior walls.  Offsetting this, there are some items for traffic control and erosion control.

Interior walls are estimated to be 85 percent complete.

Civil Construction at Hanford--We would like to get the changes needed for the new building into the Archetect's contract.  Vacations are interrupting proposals for design work.

Property--The inventory at Livingston went well.  Cooperation was excellent.

Traffic Control Systems--Discussed alternative locations for a traffic control gate.  Constraints may force the location closer to the end of the road towards the facility.  Thisd is still being studied.

Safety--There will be a safety audit at Livingston in two weeks.

The list of current actions revised to reflect the status of open actions assigned through January 2, 2003 may be found at ACTION LIST.

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

• Supported the Detector Group (M. Smith) with packing and shipping of  Piezo Tilt Platform to Piezo Systems, attention: J. Latinski located at Hopedale, MA.  Account Number P205472.
• Supported the Optic Engineer (G. Billingsley) with packing and shipping of one (1) 6" Glass Blank--Fine Ground, and  twenty (20) Glass Cubes--Fine Ground  to Wave Precision, attention: J. Tardif located at Moorpark, CA. Account Number P204296.
• Completed the quarterly property Inventory at the LIGO Livingston Observatory.  The results of the inventory is very satisfactory..

>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

Re-designed the forms for the Laser Eye Exams.  Consolidated multi-page form from Huntington Hospital's Center for Occupational Health into a two-sided one page form.  Caltech safety office likes the redesign and is exploring its use campus-wide.

For some reason, all the process traveler templates were lost on my computer.  Began to redo each of the four.  To date, both the generic process traveler and the small optics process traveler have been redone.  The remaining two--large optics and vacuum process travelers, will be finished tomorrow.

Supplied a working option to Ryan for use of the various storage areas with the goal of relocating several items from an office on the third floor into the third flooor storage room.  This option would also give the DCC four large file cabinets in the alcove of WB51.  The only downside is finding a place for the MITA copy machine presently housed in the ECR area.

Scanned in six more months of the IFIS budgets.  It appears that I'm down to about 10 - 12 months and then I can begin to burn on to CDs.  After this has been completed, it will be time to shred and dispose of the pounds of original IFIS reports from inception through 1999.

FY 2002 STATISTICS
There's never a better time to look backward than when we begin a new year.  During 2002, A total of  3,709 documents were processed into the DCC.  The charts below show the breakdown first by month, and secondly by category.
 

DOCUMENTS ADDED IN 2002 BY MONTH

JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUG	SEPT	OCT	NOV	DEC
446	127	206	130	141	116	314	321	301	1013	467	137

 

DOCUMENTS ADDED IN 2002 BY CATEGORY

C	D	E	G	L	M	P	T
1,256	168	200	579	580	391	232	303
33%	5%	5%	16%	16%	11%	6%	8%

Reminder to LIGO staff:  Please make sure that as a minimum, each document submitted has a LIGO number, author's name, and date.  It's surprising how many documents are missing one of more of these essential pieces of information!

ACTIVITY

• Electronic document activity remains quite active.  Replaced/attached some of the older existing file folders already in the shelves with new year identifier labels.
 
DCC Activity


WE 01/16/03	Packages	Faxes
In	17	37
Out	10	17

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

Press here for ACCOUNTS PAYABLE HISTORY DATA .

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

• Completed change orders 120 through 125 for Triad and submitted for approvals in BSB.  Completed change order #20 to Waveprecision.  Working on Joe LaCour's change order #1 to add funds.
• Receiving updated certifications on recent change orders.
• Responded to Mark in Internal Audit regarding his inquiry on pcard purchases made to Overall Laundry Services.
• Placing and reconciling pcard orders.
• Working with Florence and Moses in Federal to do a cost transfer on two invoices paid in 2002 for Crystal Systems.

• Processing purchase order for tapes for Stuart Anderson.
• Still preparing for Purchasing Services audit to take place Jan. 24, 2003
• Accepted a new assignment from Tina Lowenthal for current open leases.  I will be working closely with Pat Sommer in finance.  This will require some Saturday’s (this is a project that I’ve been doing once a year.)

• Prepared two additional Cost Transfers to move costs from the R&D award PHY-98-01158 to the FY2003 Operations and R&D Award.

Prepared an analysis of MIT charges, at  David Shoemaker's request,  to verify application of MIT benefit and indirect rates.
• Identified a problem that 2 Visitors over the Summer were either not paid their stipends or that the stipends were charged to an incorrect account.
• Updated schedule on costs for Livingston building in the Construction award to assist in determination as to whether additional funds are required.

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

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

• Univ. of Michigan: CO no. 05, adding funds for D. Gustafson's on-site work at LHO, was released  to Purchasing.

• The interior walls for the LLO Staging Building are about 85% complete, with personnel planned to move in around the end of January.
• The architect for the LHO Laboratory Building, NTD Architects, is working on designs for the double glass doors and the sunshade.  This work will be added to the Chervenell contract when the designs are complete.

• Licensing requirements for the operation of GSA vehicles at the sites is under review, and a policy will be issued.
• Also under review is the composition of the vehicle fleets at both sites.

SUPPORT (Baldon, Lloyd, Tischler)

>Irene Baldon

• Processed the paper work for sixteen (16) new/revised trips and there are eleven (11) trips that are in various stages of completion before ticketing can be done and/or paper work completed.  Also assisted a number P-Card holders with their travel plans/reservations or revisions.  Have availed myself to LHO travelers for their travel until further notice.
• Completed nine (9) Expense Reports and there are twenty-two (22) reports yet to be done.  I continue to contact travelers who have outstanding Expense Reports (more than one (1) month old) to ask for their cooperation in sending me their receipts so that I can close their trip(s).
• Reconciled forty-six (46) P-Card items which required numerous phone calls to hotels, etc. in order to track down which traveler incurred which charge, and the pulling of each traveler's file to assure that charges are correct for each fee incurred.  Assisted a few travelers with their questions in regard to their P-Card and/or reconciliation.
• Worked on the preparation and distribution of the Travel/Vacation Itinerary for January 13, 2002.  Arranged teleconferences and entered reservations on the LIGO Calendar as needed.  Performed normal recording and filing associated with Travel and Reimbursement.
• Cleared out all 2002 travel files and sent them to DCC for storage.  Sorted out all outstanding 2002 trips and will contact the traveler if receipts not received by next week.  Created travel files for 2003.
• I continue to do MIT's travel to the sites for installation activities and also to assist them wherever possible.

• Approximately 50  invoices were processed for payment this reporting period. Tracked and followed up on invoice problems. Reviewed and recorded payments processed by Esther the week of January 6.
• Processed the usual requisitions, change orders and payment requests.
• 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 helping out in the DCC.

• Set up first laser safety training session and eye exams since revision of the laser safety policy.
• Meet with Veronica re: continuing and upcoming web projects.
• P-card reconciliation due this week.
• Details associated with the John Muir Elementary School tour of Seismo Lab and 40M on Friday

 

Advanced LIGO (Frey)

Accomplishments:

Weekly Advanced LIGO Project Controls meeting was held on Monday the 13th of Feb.  The subject of the meeting was the status of the detailed cost estimate and a forecast of a request amount.

For list of documents that are being used to develop Adv. LIGO Cost and Schedule, see http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/Cost_MTG_082002/

Advanced LIGO MRE Proposal (Highest Priority)

• 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.  Garilynn continues to execute action items.
• PSL -  Received revised data from Peter King, data input to follow.
• AOS - Work on action items continues.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.  Continue to input Photon Drive cost data.
• IO -  Work on action items continues.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• SUS - Working with Janeen doing updates and action items.  Janeen completed data input.  Janeen provided an updated BOE and WBS and input of this data to follow.
• SEI - To date, no work on action items has been completed.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• ISC - Mike continues to work on the WBS dictionary.  No comments as of 01.16.03 on the draft detailed schedule and no WBS dictionary.
• LDAS - Received some comments.  For all intents and purposes, this data is complete.
• INSTALL - No comments as of 01.16.03.
• DAQ - Jay provided a time line and cost data.  Data input is proceeding.
• PM - I have data provided by Phil and will process next week.
• FAC - Corresponded with David Shoemaker regarding scope.
• Per Gary and Dennis' direction, I should begin receiving data for all subsystems to prepare for submittal of January 31, 2003.

• ROSTER DATABASE:
• Working with Larry and Barbara to set up a process by which the roster database updates selected alias lists.
• Worked with Cindy and Irena for training / access purposes.

• COST BOOK DATABASE:
• Continue to verbally communicate the username and password to users.
• Will be working with BK to modify reports / web reports per comments.
• BK is continuing work on action items.
• Prepared updated reports and cost profiles in preparation for meeting with mgmt. on the 13th.
• Preparing updated reports and cost profiles by Subsystem as requested by Gary.

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

The Annual Progress Report for Construction has been sent to the NSF..

Change Request CR-030002 to adjust the FY 2003 operating budgets to reflect actual staffing during the first quarter has been prepared.  Additional information is required.

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

• Various personnel/payroll /HR related work.

Quality/Safety (Tyler)

No report this week.

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

Summary of Commissioning Activities at LIGO Hanford Observatory (compiled by R. Savage)
January 9, 2003 - January 16, 2003
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It has been a very busy week for both interferometers as final software and hardware changes are being implemented in anticipation of the configuration freezes on 1/17 for the 4k and on 2/3 for the 2k.

The wavefront sensing system was again the principal effort for the 4k ifo.  Aided by robust and consistent locking, significant progress was made resulting in four of the five WFS servos being engaged simultaneously.

Locking has been less consistent for the 2k and efforts are underway to realign the ISC tables in hopes of improving performance.  Backscattered light was found to be responsible for a number of peaks in the noise spectrum.  It appears that the source of the anomalous loss in the x-leg of the recycling cavity is the anti-reflection coating on ITMX.

DaveB has been busy with RolfB and LoriI upgrading software and is presently trying to get security patches installed on Blue to get the ilog back on-line.

Visitors included RolfB and LoriI (LSC and ASC software upgrades), BillK (thermal lensing, etc.) and NergisM.

  2K IFO (H2)
-----------
 
DanielS made major modifications to the modecleaner servo card that resulted in achieving a unity gain frequency of 93 kHz with 50 degrees of phase margin, close to the design specifications. (Details: http://blue.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/ilog/pub/ilog.cgi?group=detector&date_to_view=01/10/2003&anchor_to_scroll_to=2003:01:10:12:19:07-daniel).

RobertS discovered that backscattered light from the x-arm pickoff beam on ISCT9 was responsible for several peaks in the noise spectrum and can affect locking.
(Details:  http://blue.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/ilog/pub/ilog.cgi?group=detector&date_to_view=01/10/2003&anchor_to_scroll_to=2003:01:10:21:51:42-robert)  He is in the process of properly dumping the beam on ISCT9 and reducing backscattered light on the other optical tables which he has shown can reduce some of the peaks in the noise spectrum by more than a factor of 30.

It appears DickG discovered the source of the anomalous losses in the ITMX path of the recycling cavity reported earlier by BillK.  He measured that the power in the x-arm pickoff beam is about 0.5 watts, about 40 times the expected level.  A back-of-the-envelope calculation by BillK indicated that the anti-reflection coating on ITMX is reflecting approximately 2.5% (spec. ~ 6e-4) and that this is likely the source of the anomalous loss (see: http://blue.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/ilog/pub/ilog.cgi?group=detector&date_to_view=01/15/2003&anchor_to_scroll_to=2003:01:15:15:26:16-BillK).  Garilyn B. is researching the coating records.  Doug just measured the reflectivity of the witness samples for the AR coating run and they are close to spec.

MichaelL and DickG did a major realignment of ISCT7 in efforts to improve the 2k performance.  ISCT10 has also been realigned.
 

4K IFO (H1)
-----------

LucaM, PaulS, and RickS have made some significant progress with the wavefront sensing system.  They were able to engage  4 of the 5 sensors in both pitch and yaw degrees of freedom.  The servos have not been fully characterized or optimized, but early results giving clear indications of increased power levels and reduced fluctuations are encouraging.

Bill K is investigating thermal lensing using a new technique that involves modulating the carrier loss by misaligning the ETMs (see http://blue.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/ilog/pub/ilog.cgi?group=detector&date_to_view=01/16/2003&anchor_to_scroll_to=2003:01:16:16:03:57-BillK).
 

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

no report
 

Detector/Technical Support (Coyne)

40 Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)

• Student Alexei Ourjoumtsev, from Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, is visiting us for 6 months. He will be focusing on the implementation, optimization, and characterization of the alignment sensing and control for our suspended-mass mode cleaner. He will also contribute to the commissioning of the our new faraday isolator and MMT systems (with Mike Smith), and our new optical sensing trains. Please make him welcome!
• A Safety audit team, headed by Bill Tyler, visited the 40 Meter lab on Thursday morning. A variety of safety and ergonomic issues were discussed with the 40m lab team, and action items identified.
• Suspended mass mode cleaner (Ugolini, Miyakawa, Vass, Abbott):
• There was a lull in ISS commissioning and other activity, so that the MC was allowed to maintain lock continuously for 39 hours over the last weekend; it may be a record.
• Osamu continues to measure and analyze the frequency noise of the PSL, using the mode cleaner error signal.
• The 7 Hz oscillation that prevented the MC servo gain from being turned up, disappeared when MC2's suspension controls moved from the 1Y5 rack (running at 2048 Hz) to the 1Y4 rack (running at 16 kHz). It re-appears when length control is applied to Mc1 or MC3 (still in the 2048 Hz rack). This could have something to do with digital filtering on the ISC110B which digitizes the OSEM sensor signals. Investigation continues.
• Now, a peak ~ 18 Hz dominates the MC frequency noise spectrum. It is likely that this is the suspension bounce mode, and Dennis will implement a digital notch filter for all 3 suspended optics.
• There is a family of noise peaks at 500-700 Hz in the frequency noise spectrum. Osamu believes that he has traced it to mirror mounts on the periscope at the end of the PSL table. He will try different mirror mounting schemes.
• Osamu traced broad-band noise to loose scres on the PSL and other optical tables. Larry Jones implementing some hardware to prevent these screws from vibrating.
• Osamu continues to investigate the excess noise in the 40-200 Hz region, which he suspects is alignment noise in the MC suspensions. He is trying to excite the pitch and yaw of the mirrors, but the digital excitation points don't appear to be working.
• Osamu is working with Alexei and Ben to implement alignment control of the MC launch beam.
• Osamu found that the spectrum analyzer itself was contributing noise to the noise measurements, and is now filtering the signal being sent to the analyzer.
• The line harmonic noise (60 Hz multiples) remains large, despite grounding of the DSC cables. We continue to investigate.
• Ben remade the LO cable for the mode cleaner servo. The phase delay is now optimized.
• Dennis and Ben altered the generic DAQ interface board to allow 16kHz MC signals (MC Trans and MC Refl DC light) to be brought into DAQ. Now, these signals are available in frames, dataviewer, and DTT.
• Core digital suspension controllers (DSC), and other Electronics (B. Abbott, Taylor):
• Dennis and Ben insulated the backs of seven Satellite Amplifier Termination boards, and put them into the remaining 7 Sat Amps that we have for the 40m.
• Dennis and Ben are now attempting to test the new suspension controllers with the 3 suspended optics that are still sitting on a bench in the South Annex: BS, ITMx, ITMy. They have assembled all the electronics and cabling. They are encountering a variety of problems with the DSC software for which they need the help of Alex Ivanov.
• We still need to implement appropriate filtering for our 5" ("MOS") test mass suspensions. Ben will talk to Jay about this.
• Bob has wired up as much as he can on the 1X4 end station rack, until Ben gives him more to do.
• We will push for completion of the MC alignment control. We need a PZT driver from CDS. Ben reports that Laurie will be available to implement the digital control software for the system during the "E9 lull in CDS workload" ;)
• PSL and ISS (O. Miyakawa, B. Abbott, R. Abbott, F. Nocera, D. Ugolini):
• Flavio, Rich, and Ben continue to work on ISS at the 40m PSL. Flavio is cleaning up all the cables and pickoffs, and will re-test with the PD downstream of the PMC (but still before the MC).
• Osamu and Steve completed their measurements of the beam power everywhere on the PSL table, showing no anomalies in the power budget.
• However, they observed noticable intensity variations, and they continue to investigate.
• They plan on improving the mode matching into the PMC to increase the transmitted power.
• Optical sensing (Smith):
• OPTICS PARTS LIST, Received parts: Some of the mechanical parts for the mode matching telescope were received.
• Orders pending: Input mode-matching telescope off-axis parabolic mirrors are pending from SORL; re-worked half-wave plates from KLC, for the Faraday isolator; drive electronics to drive the x and y axes of the 2nd PZT vacuum IFO steering mirror, from Piezo-Jena. Mounting collar for mounting the PZT tilt platform onto the DLC vacuum mirror mount and the mirror holder, from CA Machine.
• IFO MODE-MATCHING TELESCOPE: Some of the telescope mechanical parts are still in process of being fabricated. Hope to have the parabolic mirrors, and begin to assemble the telescope, within the month.
• OPTICAL LEVER: Mechanical parts for magnified focus lens are in process of being fabricated by two outside machine shops. Hope to assemble prototype in next couple of weeks.
• FARADAY ISOLATOR: The HWP assembly from KLC is in shipment. All of the other parts have been cleaned and baked. Hope to assemble system in next couple of weeks.
• Facilities and vacuum envelope (Ugolini, Vass, Jones):
• Dennis discovered that the autoburt system failed to create a "2003" directory, and thus did not store autoburt files for the 1st week of 2003. He has fixed it.
• Housings for illuminators and cameras for the chamber viewports are still in fabrication at CES. Expect them in the next 2 weeks.
• Beam tubes from ports to optical tables, specially designed by Larry, are still in fabrication at CES. Expect them in the next month.
• The crane repairman repaired the vertex crane, and Steve reports that all 3 cranes are working properly.
• South Annex Bake Ovens (Taylor, Cardenas):
• Bob completed a bake job on the Faraday Isolator TGG rods and magnet.
• Bob has prepared 12 long and 12 short OSEM coil bodies for the 40m and they are now in the oven for the hot bake @ 200C. He also has built enough boards to complete all the 40m OSEMs.
• Steve and Bob have been marking the small in-vacuum optics with an etching tool, prior to clean / bake.
• Bob continues to assemble an inventory of the clean room, and do maintenance on the bake ovens.

Thermal Noise Interferometer (Libbrecht)

This week we turned down the power in the TNI to see if we could
achieve long-term locks in the arm cavities. We were successful, but
only after turning the power down by a factor of ten. Even with this
low power, our enhanced visibility (due to careful realignment) and
removal of several collimating lenses has given us a pretty good
displacement sensitivity. Preliminary measurements show that our
sensitivity is comparable to what we were seeing previously.  We still
do not understand the source of the transient locks at high powers, and
are continuing to investigate this phenomenon.

We also produced a fairly good spectrum of the photothermal response
in fused silica.  The spectrum compares well with our models, and with
what we saw previously using an aluminum substrate.  We achieved a high
signal-to-noise by coating the silica mirror with gold, thereby increasing
the absorbed power relative to a dielectric coating.  We will soon measure
gold-coated sapphire as well.

LASTI (Zucker)

LASTI (Coyne, Forbes, Hammond, Kern, Mason, MacInnis, McKenzie,
Mittleman, Ottaway, Rankin, Rollins, Shoemaker, Zucker)
---------------------------------------------------------------------

MEPI characterization & test
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Control of the Ham stack has been found to be more difficult than the
BSC due to the weakness of the HAM crossbeams. A meeting was held with
Professor Samir to develop solutions and a design to help resolve this
problem.  A structure has been designed which will connect the
crossbeams. In addition  structural dampeners will be designed which
will run along the length of the crossbeams.

In the interim we have managed to close a loop around all four vertical
actuators.  This was accomplished using a local control strategy with
moderate gain between 1 and 10 hertz, and multiple unity gain
crossing.

HEPI characterization & test
-------------------------------------------------------
After bleeding the actuators over the weekend to remove collected
air, we are recharacterizing the system and investigating the
differences between the measurements and the model predictions.

We've had a succession of new noises from the hydraulic pump. Ken
Mailand is helping us work through diagnostics; in the meantime he has
procured a spare pump and motor for us, just in case.

We believe we've found a usable workaround for the leakage problem
on the actuator needle valves while Jonathan, Marcel and Corwin
work through the valve tolerance and manufacturing issues more thoroughly
(see Jonathan Kern's report). We still have some instances of weeping
but are monitoring them carefully.

Triple Suspension Prototype Test
-------------------------------------------------------
We are taking delivery of the HAM support structure for the
triple suspension test shortly and will send it out for cleaning and baking,
but have been persuaded to hold off shipping the suspension itself from
Caltech for a few weeks.  We currently have our hands full with HEPI and
MEPI, and Janeen et al can use more time to understand the system
at home before we install it.

Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)

SIMULATION AND MODELING (Bhawal)

E2E MODELLING:

Weekly Physics Meeting

Luca discussed various issues related to the progress made
in WFS work in H-1 and ASC in general. Matt reported some studies
he made on WFS using SimLIGO.

LLO seismic isolation requirements

Virginio, Matt and Hiro discussed how to evaluate the requirements of
the preisolation system for LLO.
More information is gathered to identify how the simulation can be used
to provide complementary information to help to quantify the requirements.

SimLIGO

(Matt) Tested SimLIGO with mode-matching. Mode-matching allows us to simulate
 mirror curvature effects and is very important to understanding the
 sideband behavior in the IFOs, since the power recycling cavities are,
 at present, very poorly mode-matched.  This has implications in both
 LSC (including lock-acquisition) and ASC control systems.

 Configured lock-acquisition for multi-mode simulation.  LA now works
 in SimLIGO with slightly less than perfect mode-matching (about 10%
 of the way to the real "cold" IFOs).

 Added QPDs to SimLIGO's ASC control system.  The QPDs are used to control
 the BS and MMT3.  Since MMT3 is not currently included in SimLIGO, only
 BS control was added.

Modal Model update

(Hiro) The modal model C++ class code is updated to implement unlimited
 number of modes in the simulation. The documentation is updated, and the
 simulation engine code is being updated to use these new codes.

Alignment signals

(Biplab, Hiro) Worked on validation of the alignment signals from the
 output port of a LIGO model by comparing with analytical calculation and
 with corresponding values given in '97 paper by Peter Fritschel et al.

Alfi

   (Bruce)
        - Continued work to distribute Alfi using Java's Web Start,
          which involves educating myself on public/private key
          security, digitally signing our jar files, and working with
          our systems people to configure the web server appropriately.

        - Worked on misc minor PR feature requests like saving options
          and window space between Alfi sessions.

    (Melody)
        - Continued with the automated tester for alfi5.
        - Did some regression testing using the newest version of Java (1.4.1).
        - Fixed some PRs.
 
 

LIGO DATA ANALYSIS SYSTEMS

SOFTWARE SYSTEMS (Blackburn)

The problems encountered with using the new MPI library from LAM were tracked
down to having Red Hat Linux version of LAM pre-installed on all LDAS beowulf
nodes in combination with the definitive LDAS version stored in the /LDCG tree.
This Red Hat LAM was the same version previously and caused no noticible issues
at build or run time. However, with the newer LAM libraries and header files it
was unstable. Once the Red Hat PRMs were removed, the issues with the new LAM
ended. We will therefore adopt the new version 6.5.8 in the next release of
LDAS.

We began enhancing the LDAS username/password application web site to support
user requests for account extensions. This is expected to be in place around
the time of E9, well in advance of S2. With this new feature, users will not
be trouble by expiring accounts at critical times such as science runs.

There continues to be a large effort required to support the compression modes
outlined in the frame spec. Several of these compression modes do not work for
particular data types or in particular combinations as outlined in the spec.
We continue to work closely with VIRGO to sort out all the issues that reside
in the details of implementing compression support.

LDAS stability did improve this week. The two largest failure modes are now
a 3600 second timeout in the frameAPI which is now thougtht to be due to the
Solaris Kernal's thread scheduler and an initialization failure in MPI. To-
gether, they account for about a 1% failure rate in our nightly testing. At
this time, there is not a solution that will reduce these random failures.

The LDAS hardware at the sites are being upgraded this week. We hope to push
a pre-release of LDAS this friday assuming that the upgrades complete in time.
This will not be the version of LDAS to be used in E9. But because our CVS
repository is in a code freeze and only bug fixes are allowed to be committed,
the functionality should be very similar to what is in place for E9 late next
week.
 

HARDWARE SYSTEMS (Anderson)

CALTECH

(Dan Kozak)

* Continued testing SAM-QFS 4.0, also installed and tested QFS 4.0 as a
  shared reader (of a filesystem created under 3.5).  The "known problem"
  mentioned in the README doesn't seem to affect us: a test read of 4000
  files averaged ~65Mb/sec, on par with the performance we saw under 3.5.

* Placed order for 420 9940 tapes.

* Continued to work with Qlogic on 2Gb FC HBAs.

(Stuart Anderson)

* Finished building development tools for the Solaris 9 version of /ldcg.

* Upgraded LDAS-CIT to Solaris 9 and documented the procedure for
  LHO, LLO, and MIT to follow.

* Upgraded 6 Millikan desktop machines to Solaris 9.

* Mirrored 2000s of coincident full frames from LHO and LLO to test the
  compatability of the new version 6 frames being written by CDS with
  the new release of LDAS.

MIT

(Keith Bayer)

* Removed earliest ldas_archive file from /export to solve space crunch.

* Received new DDR rackmount cluster node and installed RedHat 8.0.

* LDAS Solaris 9 upgrade underway.

* ldas-pcdev1 upgraded to cluster machine version with SSL apache and CVS.

LIVINGSTON

(Igor Yakushin)

* Upgrading Solaris 8 to Solaris 9 on E450s and V880.

(Shannon Roddy)

* Connected ControlMon to the ldas network.  I had some difficulty
  connecting it, since I am at the distance limit for the media converter
  that we are using.  It is connected in a temporary fashion now, but will
  be permanently connected next week.

* Had some trouble evaluating the AMD systems for the next beowulf
  purchase.  This turned out to be an oversight by the vendor.  The
  motherboard that was used will only allow 1 piece of DDR 400 ram.  They
  had two pieces in there to supply the requested 1 GB of ram.  This
  caused severe stability problems.  The vendor is working with me to
  solve this problem.  It will probably amount to them sending me two
  pieces of 512 MB DDR333 memory.

* Completed the LDAS move last week.  Everything came up without too much
  difficulty.  As far as I am aware, there are no problems so far.

HANFORD

(Greg Mendell)

* Set up the ldas-jobs box on the GC network, working with Christine
  Barker, Patrick Brady, Duncan Brown, and Igor Yakushin. This box will
  serve as the LSC interface to LDAS at LHO, and provide monitoring of the
  search code running on LDAS from the control room.

* Recovered the T3s used by the framebuilder fb0 for use with LDAS.

* Currently working to upgrade the LDAS LHO Sun computers to Solaris 9.
 

DATA ANALYSIS (Blackburn)

Alan Weinstein:

- Prepare proposal for hardware burst injections for E9/S2;
  submitted to Marka and Shawhan on Wednesday.
 
- Working with Patrick on readying burst scripts for online
  running during E9/S2. In progress.
 
- Work with Philip Charlton to develop respfilt()
  datacond action to filter bursts through time-dependent
  calibration (strain -> AS_Q). Currently under testing. Thanks, Philip!
 
- Communicating with Gaby on status of S1 and S2 time-dependent calibration.

- Working with PSU student on testing PSU LDAS with burst scripts.

- Discussing coincident cross-correlation approaches with Julien.

- Working with Laura Cadonati on completing memo on burst efficiency for S1.

Peter Shawhan:

Attended a meeting at SLAC to help plan a conference on statistical methods
for physics data analysis ("PHYSTAT 2003").  Many of the topics to be discussed
are things which are relevant for LIGO data analysis, including signal
significance measures, confidence intervals, systematics, and techniques for
combining results from multiple measurements or limits.  There was a very
lively discussion on many of these topics during the planning meeting.

Teviet Creighton:

Worked at firming up numbers of templates and computing resources required
for LIGO-II inspiral searches.

Igor Yakushin:

Making last minute corrections to waveburst DSO and its documentation to
prepare for the new LAL/LALWrapper release.

Greg Mendell:

1) Updated driver scripts for the knownpulsardemod to request the
calibration data from ldas and successfully ran jobs using the
calibration at LHO. One problem is that the calibration data itself is
not valid when the IFO is not locked, but I have SFTs that cover
nonlocked times (and padded out these times when the SFTs were
generated).  I'll have to figure out a way to handle this.  For now I am
only working on contiguously locked stretches of data.

2) Checked into lalwrapper cvs knownpulsardemod code updated to output a
real8 value to the summvars database table.  Added the option to output
calibrated SFTs.  Removed a factor of from the definition of the power
spectral density noise estimation that is done from the SFTs.  This was
to agree with the PULG groups definition of S_h.

3) Started implementing an option to high pass filter and window the
input time series data before generating SFTs.  This will be used when
generated short SFTs, e.g., from 64 s of data, as opposed to generated
2048 s SFTs.
 

GENERAL COMPUTING (Wallace)

MIT:

-Upgraded file server with new SCSI drive
-Worked on matlab/mathematica software licenses for new year
-Restored data from tape for user
-Working to restore 1999 data for old user

Livingston:

(Shannon)

-Looked at some problems I have been having with my tape library for GC
 backups.  The tapes are catching on something in the tape drive when
 they are ejected.  It is probably just a rough edge somewhere on the
 tape drive.  This is the first problem I have had in over two years of
 using the Exabyte library.  I have disabled that drive until I can solve
 the problem.  There are two drives, so backups are still being done
 nightly.
-Found a problem with the GC switch in the new building.  I was getting
 10-15% packet loss between the core switch and the edge switch.  This
 has been determined to be a bad fiber connection.  I am not sure if they
 need to be cleaned or terminated again, but I have fixed this just by
 switching to a better pair of fibers.
-Looking at some problems on touro, the secure shell daemon will drop a
 secure shell connection after a couple of hours.  I will probably just
 upgrade this machine to Solaris 9 later this week or early next.
-Had Larry arrange for some DNS name changes at CalTech to accommodate
 some new LDAS machines.
 

Hanford:

(Christine)

- Helping with an audit which required backups of PCs and e-mail files,
  making DVD and tape copies of files, pulling old backups off tapes and
  securing an account.
- Dealing with suspicious activity on the network.  Had to block a
  couple of addresses and finally tracked the problem to an internal
  computer which has been removed from the network and is being re-built.
- Mounted some files from the DMT computer to the LSC sandbox computer.
- Created another special LSC user group and added user accounts to it.
- Attended a phone conference meeting with PNNL, DOE, UW Gigapop and
  Ligo to discuss an OC3 WAN network connection for LHO.

CIT:

(Lisa)

- Did beta testing and troubleshooting on certificate based mail relay.  This is
  fully functional with Netscape 7.  I have not yet tested other mail clients.
  Mail over secure socket layer is also working well and is ready for people to
  use.
- Worked on the build of markab to replace www.ligo.
- Cleaned up the log rotation on the mail servers.
- Did some account management.
- Generated a number of certificates to support web servers and code signing.

(Veronica)

- LIGO website: posted various updates (SURF 2003 program, Aspen
  conference, roster etc). Did some troubleshooting of one of the DCC
  databases. Working on the Advanced LIGO proposal.
- LSC website: posted updates and did usual maintenance.
- CaJAGWR website: videotaped the talks by Roger Blandford. Posted updates
  to the seminars webpage.

(Mike)

-Worked on all the NT servers doing administration that included reviewing
 security, application and system logs.
 After reviewing logs I found that Pictor, which hosts the Primavera
 software & flexlm-licensing server for ansys, is coming to its maximum
 capacity towards disk space. I will have to move some data around until our
 new replacement server comes in. This server is due for an upgrade, which
 is already ordered.
-Working on moving the real media server to a larger disk drive to
 allow much more needed space for media files, which are eating disk space
 rather quickly.
-Finished up loading Hareem's computer with G/C software and multiple
 engineering software packages.
-Loading two other PC's that included hardware upgrades/OS and software
 rebuilds. These computers are will be designated to users who have older
 computers.
-Cleaned up four laptops and updated service packs to put back into the
 loaner pool; these are ready to go and are back into the pool.
-Loading another laptop that needed some hardware replaced & a complete
 reload of OS/General computing software.
-Tested the SolidWorks software from the "its.caltech.edu" archive, so far
 everything looks okay but I well still need to run more tests and have Dennis
 Coyne approved of this before switching some of our users over to the ITS site
 license server. This well free up some of our single user licenses that
 could be used for travel.

(Larry)

-This past week I have been doing a lot of procurement related activities.
-Worked a couple of network and security issues.
-Added a couple of new users.
-Modified a couple of user accounts.
-Worked/working on the WAN connections for the Observatories.
-Working issues with the GigE connection on Campus.

LIGO II/Advanced R&D (Sanders)

From: "Mark Barton" <mbarton@ligo.caltech.edu>

    This week I spent several days in the Synchrotron identifying the
normal modes of the mode-cleaner triple suspension prototype. All were
fairly close to the predicted values based on measured properties of the
as-built version in my Mathematica model - within a few percent in most
cases. By far the largest discrepancy was 26% for the fundamental pitch
mode, but this is not unexpected given the sensitivity of this frequency
to the equilibrium height of the tips of the blade springs.

    I also released version 1.4 of my Mathematica triple model and v 2.5
of my quad model, as well T020011-00 describing comparisons I did a while
back between the Mathematica and Matlab suspension models. Both new model
version have additional functions for calculating transfer function, and
the triple has a new case reflecting the MC prototype.

    Finally, I finally got the SOS to be used for the earthquake stop
test under servo control in a vacuum. Jay Heefner set me up with a
terminal that I could use to adjust the gains on the controller. The
gains had been set for use with MOSs at the 40 m and were too high for SOS.
 

From: Peter King <pking@ligo.caltech.edu>

2.1 PSL
=======
    The high current photodetector was taken out for a test drive.  The
prototype photodetector ran with a light level consistent with 165 mA of
photocurrent.  No problems were noticed during the 30 minute trial, apart
from the smell of warm electronics (due to not having the right power-rated
components on hand).  The dark noise was re-measured after the exposure
trial and was found to be the same as that reported last week.  The best
noise measured thus far has been 1.4 nV/Sqrt[Hz] at 10 Hz but this has not
been reproducible during the day.  I have also been looking into other issues
such as appropriate heatsinking and packaging of the photodetector.

A 10 kHz peak present in the output of the photodetector was tracked down to
an interaction between the 1 uF capacitor used on the output of a 5 V
regulator used to bias the photodiode.  The de-coupling capacitor was
varied and its effect on the dark noise of the photodetector was measured,
resulting in the end use of a 0.33 uF capacitor.

2.2 AdvLIGO PSL
===============

    I spoke with Chris Thalken of Coherent about getting an updated
quotation for the laser diodes.  Apparently Coherent were shutdown over the
Christmas/New Year period, hence the delay in getting back to me.  Since
the original quotation for the diodes was requested, Coherent have a new
model of laser diode that incorporates an internal power monitor and
temperature cooler.  The good news is that the new and improved laser pump
diode costs less than the old ones in the costing ($6950 for 50 or more as
opposed to $7500).  The original diodes have also decreased in price to
$4950 from the original $7500.
 

From: Michael Smith <smith@ligo.caltech.edu>

40 METER IFO

OPTICS PARTS LIST
Received parts:
Some of the mechanical parts for the mode matching telescope were received.

Orders pending:
Input mode-matching telescope off-axis parabolic mirrors are pending from SORL; re-worked half-wave plates from KLC, for the Faraday isolator; drive electronics to drive the x and y axes of the 2nd PZT vacuum IFO steering mirror, from Piezo-Jena. Mounting collar for mounting the PZT tilt platform onto the DLC vacuum mirror mount and the mirror holder, from CA Machine.
 

IFO MODE-MATCHING TELESCOPE
Some of the telescope mechanical parts are still in process of being fabricated.

OPTICAL LEVER
Mechanical parts for magnified focus lens are in process of being fabricated by two outside machine shops.

LIGO

ERRANT LASER BEAMS
An errant laser beam analysis was completed and submitted to the DDC: Errant Beam Analysis, LIGO1, LIGO-T030006-00-D. Simple heat flow models were used to estimate the heating of suspension wires caused by errant laser beams directed by rogue mirrors. The laser spot size, power, and energy of errant laser beams were calculated using the parameters of the 2K and 4K interferometers. Errant beams were located by drawing rays on the ACAD integrated layout drawing and by tracing rays using the ASAP ray trace program. The wire heating estimates are in agreement with the demonstrated failure of the MMT2 suspension wire. Based on the temperature rise estimates of heated suspensions wires by errant beams, it is concluded that in the 2K IFO and in the 4K IFO the MMT1 (or SM1/SM2), MMT2, and MC2 are potential rogue mirrors that might misdirect laser beams and cause damage to the suspension wires and to the OSEM signal cables.
The following recommendations for additional baffling are made:
Protective baffles should be mounted on the MC1, MC3, SM1, SM2, MMT1, and MMT3 mirror suspension structures to shield the suspension wires and OSEM cables from the line of sight to the MMT2 mirror and the MC2 mirror.
Baffles should also be placed on the HAM1/HAM 7 optical tables in order to shield all OSEM cables from the line of sight to MC2 and MMT2.
Protective baffles should be mounted on the MC2 and MMT2 mirror suspension structures to shield the suspension wires and OSEM cables from the line of sight to the MMT1 (or SM1/SM2) mirror.
A baffle should be placed on the AR side of the RM to shield the suspension wires of the RM from the line of sight to the MMT1 rogue mirror.
 

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

Silicate bonding  -  SF4 glass
Continued testing more parts from the first bonding batch.
Pull test -
SF4-6 - I was able to pull this bonded substrate to 26 kg when one of the substrates separated from the fixture holder. Re-bonded and tested again, this time 54 kg of pulling force was applied when once again, the bond to the fixture broke. Part remains to be fully tested. No apparent changes observed on the bond.
SF4-2 - Pulled to 61 kg, held the tension; the bond separated within seconds. Glass from the SF4 substrate was pulled mainly around the edge.
SF4-1 - Pulled to 12 kg and held the load. Stress could be observed as I was pulling; the stress remains on the part still under tension now for about 4 hr
Sheer test
SF4-5 - Encouraged by the latest results, loaded this bonded substrate under sheer stress with 4.5 kg; it has been loaded for the last 2 hr
I have no explanation as why the first two bonds failed.
 

From: ctorrie <ctorrie@ligo.caltech.edu>

I have been helping Mark Barton to measure and compare the modes of the prototype triple pendulum with theory. In order to do this I have been working to ensure that the parameter file in the model resembles as close as possible the actual setup. Using both the original MATLAB model and Mark's MATHMATICA model we have been investigating discrepancies between the theory and experiment. Mark has included the results in his weekly report.

Helena and I have been working to on the 2nd suspension suspension, in particular to include the global control OSEMs and there associated magnet and dumbbells. This also involves replacing the suspension wire and adding a roll adjuster to the upper mass.
Once this is completed we are going to test the LIGO 1 rotational adjusters on the structure.

Report on visit to IGR at the U. of Glasgow

Eddy Current Damper

Mike Plissi at the U. of Glasgow has 3 XYZ shakers under a triple pendulum set up that he has been using to test a 4x4 array eddy current damper in the vertical direction. Over the course of my visit we set up the Caltech designed 2x2 array with fine adjuster on the Glasgow triple pendulum. This can be seen at the following link: - http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~ctorrie/ecd.html.
Q measurements were made on one of the vertical modes of the pendulum and the results compared very well with what was expected. The adjustment mechanism, allowing you to align the copper wrt the magnet array proved to be fairly easy to use. It was also noted that for ease of alignment that the copper array should be made longer and have 4 removable inserts. Several other upgrades were noted from observations made, by Alastair Grant, during the alignment of the array and these will be included in the re-worked design.
The next steps include: -
1) Testing the 2x2 array on other degrees of freedom on a single pendulum at Caltech (Willems and Torrie)
2) 6 re-worked 2x2 arrays will be tested on the 2nd prototype suspension at Caltech

Blade Wire Clamps
http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~ctorrie/bladewireclamp/bladewireclamp.html

Several designs of blade wire tested in Glasgow. In particular the Breaking Stress for the combination of clamp - wire - clamp was investigated. 2 rounded blade wire clamps used in combination with spring steel wire, as outlined in the above link, led to an improvement of ~15% in the Breaking Stress when compared to 2 straight edged blade wire clamp used in combination with spring steel wire.
The next steps include: -
1) Testing of an upgraded design of the rounded clamp that has a sharp edge incorporated in order to define the break off of the wire from the clamp. this will be carried out in Glasgow.  (Cantley, MPL, Jones)

Library of Clamps
http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~ctorrie/upperbladeclamp/upperbladeclamp.html
The so called library of clamps were tested on several different designs of cantilever blades. The library of clamps consists of set of clamps, used to fix the cantilever blades, that are incrementally angled in the direction of the blade from 0.5 degrees to 3.5 degrees, see above link.
These have proved to be an excellent asset in correcting the error associated with the deflection of a cantilever blade under load.
The idea behind testing these clamps of various blades was to build up a set of data sheets that can be used when selecting a particular clamp set for a blade with a known deflection under load.

Other discussions
A second set 15 coil formers and there associated parts were sent to be machined. These included a couple of small upgrades that were included after a fit test was carried out by Janeen and I in late December.
Norna Robertson and I spent some time with Caroline Cantley bringing her up to speed on the Recycling Mirror Design. We hope to have final parameters for this design in the next couple of weeks.
Mike Lloyd, Russell Jones and I have been testing using the LIGO SSH secure shell file transfer as a method of exchanging files between Glasgow and Caltech. This looks like it will be a working solution in light of 3D-TeamWorks being removed by SolidWorks.
Jim Hough has offered that Mike Lloyd could return to Caltech gain for a month or so to work on the Recycling Mirror design. He also suggested that Caroline Cantley join us for the MC installation test at MIT and invited me back again for a month or so in the summer to work on aspects of the prototype quadruple suspension, for LASTI, with Engineers from both U. of Glasgow and Rutherford.
 

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

AdLIGO Suspensions
Still inputing proposal changes. Finally done this morning.
In the MC prototype meeting on Tuesday, we discussed the status of the triples and the test plan.
 
 
From: Dennis Coyne <coyne@ligo.caltech.edu>

ETF / Advanced LIGO pod bases
We are getting all of our source and history files to Linda Turner, and
will clean up or complete the technical notes and data representing
Marcel's modeling efforts. (Hammond, Kern)
 

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