LIGO Weekly Report

Status of LSC/MOU Research Updates and Program Reports (Petrac)
Balearic:
Attach. A for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / signed-off

Carleton:
Draft-Attach. A for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in process for web posting
Draft-Attach. A for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in LIGO review / Lazzarini

Draft-Attach. Z for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in process for web posting
Attach. Z for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in LIGO review / Barish

Dominguez Hills:
Attach. A for 02-15-03 to 08-15-03 / in LIGO review / Barish
Attach. A for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / in LIGO review / Barish
Draft-Attach. A for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in LIGO review / Lazzarini and Riles
Attach. Z for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in sign-off by PI

MSURG:
Draft-Attach. A for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / in review for concurrence / Thorne
Attach. B for 02-15-03 to 08-15-03 / in sign-off by PI
Attach. B for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / in sign-off by PI
Attach. D for 02-15-03 to 08-15-03 / in sign-off by PI
Attach. D for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / in sign-off by PI
Attach. Z for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / in sign-off by PI

GEO:
Attach. B for 02-15-03 to 08-15-03 / in sign-off by PI
Attach. B for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / in sign-off by PI

Attach. C for 02-15-03 to 08-15-03 / in sign-off by PI
Attach. C for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / in sign-off by PI
Attach. C for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / LIGO review / Barish

Attach. D for 02-15-03 to 08-15-03 / in sign-off by PI
Attach. D for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / in sign-off by PI
D for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / LIGO review / Barish

LaTech:
Attach. A for 02-15-03 to 08-15-03 / in sign-off by PI
Attach. A for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / in sign-off by PI
Draft-Attach. A for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in process for web posting
Draft-Attach. A for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in LIGO review / Lazzarini
Attach. Z for 02-15-03 to 08-15-03 / in sign-off by PI
Attach. Z for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / in sign-off by PI
Draft-Attach. Z for 082-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in process for web posting

Michigan:
Attach. A for 02-15-02 to 08-15-02 / in LIGO review / Barish
Attach. A for 08-15-02 to 02-15-03 / in LIGO review / Barish

Attach. Z for 02-15-03 to 08-15-03 / in sign-off by PI
Attach. Z for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / in sign-off by PI

Northwestern:
Attach. A for 02-15-03 to 08-15-03 / in sign-off by PI
Attach. A for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / in sign-off by PI
Attach. Z for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / signed-off

Rochester:
Draft-Attach. A form08-15-04 to 02-15-04 / in LIGO review / Lazzarini

SLU:
Draft-Attach. A for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in process for web posting
Attach. A for 02-15-04 to 08-15- 04 / in LIGO review / Lazzarini
Prog. Report through Feb. 2004 / in process for web posting

Draft-Attach. Z for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in process for web posting
Attach. Z for 02-15-04 to 08-15- 04 / in LIGO review / Barish

Southern Univ.:
Draft-Attach. C for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in process for web posting
Attach. C for 02-15-04 to 08-15- 04 / in LIGO review / Barish

Draft-Attach. Z for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in process for web posting
Attach. Z for 02-15-04 to 08-15- 04 / in LIGO review / Barish

Trinity:
Attach. A for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in LIGO review / Lazzarini
Attach. Z for 08-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in LIGO review / Barish

USC/ISI
MOU / signed-off
Draft-Attach.1 for LIGO data / in LIGO review / Lazzarini

Washington State:
Attach. A for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in LIGO review / Barish
Attach. Z for 02-15-04 to 08-15-04 / in LIGO review / Barish
Prog. Report through Feb. 15, 2004 / in process for web posting

VIRGO/AURIGA:
Draft-MOU for collaboration on AURIGA-LIGO coincidence data analysis / in VIRGO review
Draft-Attach. covering arrangements for the first coincidence run / in VIRGO review

University of Washington (proposed collaboration/managing angular instabilities in Fabry-Perot cavities):
Draft-MOU / in review by the PI (since Nov. 2003)
Draft-Attach. D / in review by the PI (since Nov. 2003)
Draft-Attach. Z / in review by the PI (since Nov. 2003)
Note: Per recent telecon UW's response to above is in the works

Wisconsin:
Attach. A for 02-15-02 to 02-15-03 / in LIGO review / Barish
Attach. A for 08-15-03 to 02-15-04 / in LIGO review / Barish
Attach. Z for 02-15-03 to 08-15-03 / in sign-off by PI

LIGO Weekly Site Telecon (Lindquist)
A site teleconference was held on Thursday, February 19, 2004. The following were discussed:

From: Ed Chargois <chargois_e@ligo.caltech.edu>
No report this week (conducting equipment inventory at Livingston).

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
Met with the Adv. LIGO Suspension group and participated in discussions about the new PDM Vault by Solid Works and integration with the DCC.

Met with a group from the TMT project regarding the DCC functions and the database and web interface we use. Fielded multiple questions about types of documents, processes, and industry practices.

Emptied the remaining files and paper from the offices. Furniture was moved out and the floors were cleaned and waxed today. Furniture will be moved back on Friday.

Jim scanned in the first half of 1998 account charge files (the year represents about 8 boxes of paper). I was able to quality check, turn all pages to read position, and bookmark each file for the years 1994 through March 1998. As soon as 1998 is completed and checked, the files will be destroyed!.
> From: Cleveland Mak <mak_c@ligo.caltech.edu>

02/19/04	Packages	Faxes
In	28	42
Out	8	20

From: irena@ligo.caltech.edu (Irena Petrac)
[pel] Univ. of Oregon: The contract for on-site support at LHO is under review. We have received guidance from the Office of Sponsored Research regarding how we can apply these costs to the old and new Visitors Grants and are proceding.
From: Ed Jasnow <jasnow@ligo.caltech.edu>

ADVANCED LIGO (Cost Schedule Control Systems) T. Frey
From: Thomas Frey <tfrey@ligo.caltech.edu>

Continued development of a proposal for implementing Primavera Project Planner Enterprise.

Project Web Site for posting schedule and progress related data continues to be updated with the latest and greatest.

Tom Lucas, the LIGO video producer, is planning a trip to Boston over the next few weeks. He would like to meet with key LIGO personnel at MIT while he is there. I am trying to coordinate some dates. After that Tom will be visiting Livingston during the LSC meeting. We will try to show him some gee-whiz stuff and set up some meetings with key LSC personnel.

Open Change Requests:


CR-030015	FY 2003 Livingston Observatory Detector Maintenance Expenses (Increment)	R. Wooley	July 14, 2003
CR-030016	Hanford Facilities 2.2--Divide the Large Equipment Access to Facilitate Movement of Large Items (currently assigned to FY 2004 liens list)	J. Worden	July 31, 2003
CR-040002	Added personnel--Hanford	P. Lindquist	February 13, 2004

I believe that CR-040001 replaces CR-030015 and CR-030015 should be closed. CR-030016 has been placed on the "watch" list. I have prepared a change request for added personnel at Hanford (CR-040002). Awaiting direction concerning how these should be handled.

Quality/Safety (Tyler)

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

Summary of Commissioning Activities at LIGO Hanford Observatory (compiled by R. Savage)

There has been a flurry of commissioning-related activity this week with site staff aided by a number of visitors from LLO, CIT, and MIT. The operators have been working to keep the interferometers and monitors running during and between commissioning activities.

o A test of grouting the standard Newport legs for our ISC optical tables resulted in worse performance than without the grout. The (grouted) rigid, damped legs that were installed under ISCT4 and ISCT10 are still preferred.

o Preliminary tests indicate that in-duct heaters may be partly responsible for the some of the sidebands seen in magnetometer signals and coupling magnetically to AS_Q signals. A summary of acoustic mitigation issues was posted in the elog by Robert Schofield.

o With help from Andre Grettarson visiting from LLO, a phase camera was installed on the y-arm pick-off beam (POY) on H1. Preliminary images indicate the evolution of the spatial profile of the RF sidebands in the recycling cavity as the optics heat after the resonant state is achieved. This has generated a lot of interest and two additional cameras are being installed. Efforts are also underway to transport a sample of the laser beam taken upstream of the modulators that impress the sidebands on the light via a fiber optic to the phase camera. This should enable measuring the spatial profiles of individual frequency components in the sampled light, e.g. upper or lower RF sidebands individually.

o The H2 modecleaner length was measured with sub-micron precision by modulating the frequency of the laser light and observing the response of the REFL demodulated output. The H1 modecleaner length was measured using the same technique. The resonant sideband can thus be set to within one Hz of the modecleaner resonance frequency. For H1, the resonant sidebands would still be 650-750 Hz away from the exact anti-resonance point for the arm cavities

o Setting the non-resonant sideband at precisely 5/2 times the resonant sideband frequency eliminated a peak at ~1.4 kHz in the H1 AS_Q spectrum.

o The phase noise of the 24.5 MHz oscillator for the resonant sidebands was measured and the contribution to the AS_Q noise floor was estimated. An oversight in the system design was identified. The design assumed cancellation between the modulator and demodulator phase noise introduced by the oscillator. However the demodulator path does not incorporate a filter that mimics the effect of the modecleaner optical response on the modulated light. Efforts are underway to identify and implement an appropriate resonant filter.

o Efforts to increase the bandwidth of the H1 wavefront sensor servos have made significant progress and are still underway.

o Additional transmitted light photodetectors and ancillary relay optics have been installed and aligned in each end station for the H1 interferometer. These detectors are being installed in order to separate the lock acquisition and run mode duties between them and the quadrant PDs. Electrical and functional tests are planned for this weekend or early next week.

o Doug Cook has completed evaluation of the spare 126MOPA laser in the optics lab. The maximum output power with reasonable beam quality is about 4 watts. The laser will be sent to the manufacturer for evaluation and an estimate of required repairs.

o With assistance from Dave Ottaway and Mike Smith, efforts to install the thermal compensation systems in the LVEA are progressing. Initial system tests are planned for this weekend.

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

Detector Science and Engineering (Coyne)

Seismic Upgrade Project

see also:

the LASTI report for experimental progress in controls
the CDS report for electronics and software developments
the LLO report for installation

Dennis Coyne reporting

The last shipment of parts to enable mechanical assembly of the HEPI system is expected 2/19
Installation on the x-end chamber may begin as early as late next week. If all proceeds well and per plan/procedure the installation should be completed by ~3/12
Piping continues to progress well; Manifolds have been built & mounted to the chamber; Some of the VCO o-ring grooves have been found to have excessive tool chatter marks & will need to be polished in situ; Valve tree assemblies are nearly completed; an ordetr for a chamber's worth of shielded flex lines (from the valve tree to the actuators) has been placed (~2 week lead time)
Load cells of smaller diameter than originally intended were ordered and now received. However a solution to use the load cells has been devised. Quality of the load cells are poorer than expected, but appear to be adequate.
The new DAQ configuration (required for HEPI) is being installed by Rolf & Alex this week. A first test with the full interferometer is expected late this week before proceeding with an installation of the HEPI software.
Electronics fabrication and test is proceeding well and should be ready for a first chamber shakedown ~3/8

Ken Mailand

Pump Station

Three of the seven pump stations have had the gasket on the large filter leveled and appear to be air tight over a 24 hr period, the other 4 are in process.

The reservoir is in design, based on new X end location information at LLO, it should be finished this week and sent to the shop, fabrication should take about 10 days.

The electrical break was approved as a tube sleeve and clamp assembly, separating the fluid tube ends approx .15".

One pump station is setup to 'run' (in stand-alone mode) when time permits, it will cycle fluid from the 55 gal. supply drum.

CDS

see also weekly CDS meeting minutes in the commissioning archives:

CDS Software

no report

CDS Hardware

Ben Abbott

Jay Heefner reporting

Low Noise DAC Modules

- Testing of the production units continues. So far there has been no evidence of glitching. Testing will continue through this week.

- We have received 8 units to date. The final 6 should be here by late next week.

Sander Liu

Received the PCB and components for the EO link early this week. We are in the process of building the first articles for testing.

PSL

Peter King

After the alignment of the 10-W laser, the output was mode-matched into

a pre-modecleaner cavity. Beam profiles of the laser output suggested that the

beam should have been pretty good but the highest cavity visibility achieved

was only 76%. This led me to question whether or not the BeamScan was okay

so it was checked against a different unit. Both units yielded similar

results. I have not tracked down the source of the discrepancy.

However a minor problem with one of the half-wave plate rotation stages was

observed. The rotation adjustment on the half inch Newport MT-RS was a bit

too forgiving, as a result it'll have to be cemented in place.

OMC

Peter King

At meeting with Stan, Bill and me we discussed a suspension and vacuum

chamber for the output modecleaner. Whether or not we could quickly

fabricate a vacuum chamber from components or just fabricate one from a

design. If we decided to implement a vibration isolation stack similar to

those employed by the PSL reference cavity, then there are not enough RTV

springs in stock for all three output modecleaners.

Active Thermal Compensation

Mike Smith

2/11 report

All items have been received except the following, which are expected by 2/17:

12ea2.63 x 3.7 in elliptical mirrors, with AU coatCascade Optical

4elliptical mirror mount hardwareMIT

1support and enclosure for optical benchMIT

2annular maskMIT

The first optical bench was completely assembled and aligned and is ready

for installation. The CO2 laser pattern was projected approx. 30 m within

the optics lab and the red alignment cross was aligned with the CO2

pattern. The annulus pattern (using the old annular mask), the central

heating spot, and the raw illumination spot on the annular mask were

co-aligned visually with the infrared camera, and the intensity patterns

were measured with a power meter at the projection screen location. Phil

Willems is analyzing the effect of the intensity pattern data on his ITM

thermal compensation model. During the alignment of bench #1, the rf power

supply for the CO2 laser #1 failed spontaneously during the lunch hour

while it was turned off. A spare rf supply was installed to continue the

testing. The failed rf supply was sent to the mfg and we are awaiting the

repair.

The AOM rf modulator supply for the 2nd optical bench failed when we began

alignment of the 2nd bench; it was sent back to the mfg and we are awaiting

it's repair. The spare AOM rf modulator supply from MIT is inoperable, so

the AOM rf modulator supply from optical bench #1 was commandeered

temporarilly to provide a workable CO2 laser source so we can continue

aligning bench #2.

Cheryl is writing a work order for the installation of the thermal

compensation benches in the LVEA, including installation of a temporary

water chiller to be used next to the beam tubes during the week of 2/17,

when Dave O. and Mike Smith will begin to install and pre-align the two 4K

thermal compensation benches in the LVEA. The final water chillers will be

placed remotely from the LVEA slab with long water hoses run to the optical

benches.

Cheryl and Josh have designed and are fabricating an interface for the

EPICS computers we received from Jay Heefner to control the thermal

compensation bench from the control room.

John Worden was advised of some slight mechanical interferences that have

to be eliminated before mounting the thermal compensation benches in the

intended locations under the manifolds. The housings and the benches are

expected to be installed on 2/18.

2/18 report

The rf power supply for the CO2 laser #1 was repaired and returned. The AOM

rf modulator supply for the 2nd optical bench was repaired and returned.

All items have been received. The second optical bench was assembled and

aligned and both benches are awaiting installation in the LVEA. During

alignment of both benches, it was observed that the CO2 laser beam is

steered laterally by the AOM when the AOM drive power is increased.

Apparently heating of the AOM crystal creates a power dependent optical

wedge in the optical path. The beam shifts by a full beam diameter at the

maximum rf drive power, so the effect may be a serious issue that needs to

be resolved before the thermal compensation bench can be fully

commissioned. We will measure the cooling water flow rate to the AOM

modulator to determine if the cooling is adequate.

The enclosures for the two thermal compensation optical benches are being

modified to eliminate the interference with the clamp on the foot of the

optical lever pier. A cable tray on the y-arm will be shifted slightly to

eliminate an interference with the y-arm thermal compensation enclosure.

Optical Analysis

Erika D'Ambrosio

I made many more FFT runs to investigate how sensitive is the beam shape of

the side bands to misalignment and length microscopic variations.

The result is that:

1) the shape of the side bands is quite the same

even in the cold interferometer and changes

very rapidly with the common length of the recycling cavity.

2) When it is close to a Gaussian beam is not much sensitive to misalignment.

3) The FFT model locking algorithm is almost equivalent to the method used

in the interferometer. I checked that the error signal in reflection from

the recycling mirror and out of the dark port, cross zero for the

microscopic adjustments applied by the code and they do within a fraction

of a nanometer for the recycling cavity lengths.

I am also studying the techniques beneath the evaluation of

the error signals for mirror misalignment. I went through the

literature and I am generating the error signals by analytical

calculations to check I understand the working principles.

Optical Contamination Cavities

Lee Cardenas, Liyuan Zhang

OTF Lab. (W. Bridge)

The (21) pieces of the new twisted, shielded, teflon cables are under test.

We are taking ring down and beat frequency measurements

as well as the RGA of the chamber every day.

Please see Dr. Zhang's report.

Absorption Test Measurement prototype in progress

The water valve sensor for the 60 watts laser from Quantronix has been changed with a new one

and it has been tested to make sure it is properly working.So far so good.

new alignment in progressto testa 1.00" inch sapphire mirror for absorption.

Scatterometer system in standby

OTF Lab at Lauritsen ROOM 38

Cavity #3

The cavity is locked and we are taking ring down and beat frequency measurements every

day as well as the RGA for the chamber.

Cavity #2 Test cavity optical set up in standby

PSL LAB.

The (4) PMC bodies still under vacuum and ready to be taken out.

The 10 watt ND:YAG laser is under new alignment in order to improve power output,

so far we got7.5 watt of power.Mode matching has been done with different lenses for that purpose.

Misc... tasks

more orders has been placed for the absorption test set up.

40 Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)

Thermal Noise Interferometer (Libbrecht)

This week, we have been working on putting error bars on our thermal noise measurements and our resulting coating loss angles. Our calibration uncertainties are typically less than 10%, and our "shot to shot" variation, that is the reproducibility of our thermal noise floor from day to day, is on the order of 1% or less. However, when we removed and reinstalled the mirrors for one arm cavity (SAC), we saw the noise floor increased by about 25%, resulting in a 50% change in phi. The old value for phi was 1.3e-4; the new one is 1.9e-4. This still does not bring the noise floor up to the level predicted by the ringdown measurements, which had, if I recall correctly, a phi of about 5e-4.

The only obvious change upon removing and reinstalling the mirrors is in the alignment, and thus the position of the laser spot on the mirror coating. This raises the possibility that the thermal noise might have some variation across the surface of the optic, but it is too soon to draw any conclusions. We know from Bill Kells' work that coatings often exhibit optical point defects, and those may affect the local mechanical loss.

We also received a set of coated 1" samples from Stanford. We are in the process of applying gold coatings to these, after which we plan to measure the coating thermal expansion coefficients and thermal conductivities using photothermal displacement spectroscopy.

LASTI (Ottaway)

Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)

FFT study: Thermal heating in arms (Biplap)
----------------------------------
The effects of common and differential heating in arms on WFS signals
are further explored - specifically for RM pitch (common misalignment mode)
and differential ITM pitch using WFS2a and 2b signals respectively.
Large changes in demodulation angle for differential ITM to WFS2b
have been observed (15 to 30 deg depending on thermal state).
Starting from cold state, signals may increase upto an order of magnitude
depending on the final thermal state reached.

Will present results in tomorrow's thermal compensation meeting.

Dual recycling summation cavity
-------------------------------
Hiro completed the calculation of the field evolution in a dual
recycled Michelson (DRM) cavity using a linear approximation.
This code will be the foundation of the fast simulation of DRM in e2e.
This will be first coded in matlab for the validation
and testing of importance of various terms, and then a C++ version will
be implemented. This code is expected to be shared with Virgo group.

Enote discussion board of E2E group: (Bruce)
------------------------------------
- Installed enote discussion boards for use by all LIGO groups.
    The enote tool is intended for use by any LIGO group
    which is interested in a discussion board type of log.
    It is a subject based log of ongoing discussions in the
    group, and is available at http://ldas-sw.ligo.caltech.edu/enote/

    Currently the only two boards are general instructions about
    using the boards, and the E2E group's board.
    This tool provides for a different usage than the ilog tool,
    which is a calendar based log instead of a subject based log.

    If both tools come into common usage within a group, it is
    possible to incorporate a search from ilog through an enote
    log as well (though it may not be a trivial task.)

Code development and maintenance (Melody)
--------------------------------
C++ FUNC:
Working on incorporating Sourceforge's MET expression template facility with
MEMatrix.

Writing a technical document to describe the FUNC_xxx's use of dynamic
linking and shared libraries.

Alfi (Bruce)
----
- Fixed problem re primitive settings include files (PR 445)
- Continuing work on improving bundlers.

The upgrade of the version of LDAS at the LLO, LHO, MIT, CIT sites is now
underway. All planned enhancements to LDAS outlined after the LSC's request
to postpone the release have been accomplished. This included the support
for checksums in the createRDS command, the improved text parsing at the
C++ layer in the diskCacheAPI and the improved logging in the diskCacheAPI.
In addition, close to 40 problem reports were closed out this week and a
dozen or so minor improvements were made to documention. Unfortunately,
the new database table designs which drove the request for the delay in
the release date did not materialize. Depending on the scope of these
changes a new version of LDAS may be necessary at the time of finalization
on these tables.

We have recompiled the October-30th release of LAL/LALwrapper against the
new FFTW 3.0 library for this LDAS release. This is the version of LAL
and LALwrapper that will be installed at the site along with the new
LDAS 1.0.0 release and its associated LDGC environment (which houses
the new FFTW 3 library). This is required since the FFTW 2 library is
no longer used by LDAS and LAL.

In preparation for the new 1.0.0 release, all database tables at the MIT,
CIT, LLO, LHO sites have had an insertion time column added. This will allow
timeline plots of any numerical column from within the new 1.0.0 control-
MonitorAPI client. These new columns were already in place at LDAS-TEST
and LDAS-DEV in preparation (development and testing) for the release.

The TCL/Globus project continues at a one day a week level of effort. We
have cleaned up several build issues encountered in our early development.
A first light demo of TCL scripts using the Globus API has been started. It
will involve the use of certificates to authenticate a communication between
a client and server script. We will be visiting with the LBL PyGlobus team
next week to discuss common goals and a possible collaboration.

A review of the number of jobs submitted to the LDAS CIT, MIT, LHO, LLO,
and TEST systems since the end of the first science run totaled more nearly
9 million jobs from several dozen users.

Caltech
-------
(Dan Kozak)
* Collected data for Sun about our slightly disfunctional 3510; during
today's downtime, tried resetting the unit, but it failed to come back up.
Replaced the controller with a spare and now all is well, so it looks
like a (partially) failed controller was the problem all along.
* Identified files at LHO/LLO that had not been archived to tape and should
have been. Got them archived.
* Made much progress on HPSS migration. Began deleting data from HPSS
once it had been verified on the SAM-QFS side.
* Got QFS license for ldas-test dataserver and set it up as a shared client
of /archive.

(Hari Pulapaka)
* Made some changes to the condor configuration for security authentication.
* Installed the new condor version 6.6.1 and tested it.
* Working on upgrading condor in the entire cluster to use 6.6.1
* Ran some tests to measure the data transfer speeds between LLO and
CIT using grid ftp.

(Al Wilson)
* Heavy Metal - Did some metal work for rack rails on datacache4.
* Some minor tweaking on BB for the datacache monitoring.
* During downtime today, Cable work,
moved and redressed all of the cables for the datacache systems.
Also moved datacache4 back to it original spot.

(Stuart Anderson)
* Worked on getting the LDAS-1.0.0 release out and started on all the
Lab clusters.
* Tried out the pre-release of Fedora 2 (Test 1) with mixed results.

MIT
---
(Keith Bayer)
* Upgraded board on pcraid 2.
* Upgrade firmware on 3ware cards for pcraid 2.

Livingston
----------
(Igor Yakushin)
* Fixed a problem with dtlogin.
* Cleaned tape drives.
* u1d8@t3-11 failed. Replaced it from the spare T3. Have not yet got a
replacement drive from SUN.

Hanford
-------
(Ben Johnson)
* Fixed "damaged" files on /samrds. For some reason, samfs marked
approx. 2000 files in one directory as damaged. Ran "undamage" and
"FrCheck" on the files, all checked OK.
* Modified Igor's db2 backup script (/usr2/ldasdb/bin/backup1.sh) to
put data on metaserver's /backups (t3-26), and rsync the db2 logs,
instead of cp'ing them. Backups now take 1 1/2 hours instead of 6.
* Created "burst" archiver set and rsynced 80% of files from tekoa to
/samrds/S3/burst so far.
* replaced disk u1d1 in t3-25 (to be the secondary /export)
* Working on system-wide local disk backup scheme (e.g. db2 backups in
point 2)

* Released new version of LIGOtools 'dataflow' package.
* Set up remote access to all frame data from past runs in the archives
at Caltech and at the observatories.
* Worked on a report about Matlab for the LSC Data Analysis Software
Working Group.
* Re-worked conlog query utilities to fix an obscure bug.

* Continue running waveburst simulations on S2.
* Looking at the 4 events on playground data that were found by
waveburst and passed r-statistics test.
* Writing complete waveburst documentation.

MIT:
(Keith)
-Completed file system check for last week's cpu panic
-Moved old external scsi drives off of tintagle

Livingston:
(Shannon)
-The Internet connection seems to have become more stable this week. I
have not spoken to Boyd yet to find out if he fixed something, but it
has been steady since Monday at around 1:00.
-Still working with Dell on a resolution on the GigE switch. I have a
temporary workaround in place, but the problem is not totally resolved.
Still fine tuning some of the services after taking the PIX out. Had
to fix an ssh problem for Stuart which involved initiated connections
from ports below 1024.
-The new version of the Solsoft is working very well. I may have found
a bug in it, but I will not know until I can talk to someone at
Solsoft. I was able to easily resolve the bug, however.
-Setting up all of the current versions of applications to move to the
new file server. gcc 3.3.2, CERN-ROOT, Ligo-tools, gnuplot, many other
gnu utilities, etc. John Zweizig was able to help me with a fix to get
CERN's ROOT software to compile under Solaris 9 with gcc.
-Received a new PC for Ash. His old one was dying. Will order one for
Katrina this week, still looking at the details. Her PC is overdue for
an upgrade.

Hanford:
(Christine)
- Three computers were infected with the W32BeagleB.mm virus. Clean-up
was pretty easy, just removed some entries in the registry file and
removed a file from the system folder. Norton was able to quarantine
the virus during a disk scan, but did not catch it when it first arrived
in an email. Norton was not able to delete the files, I had to boot in
Safe mode and delete the files.
- Installed mrtg to graph network usage. This should be working by the
end of the week.
- Created a new user account for an LSC member. Continue to delete old
e-mail accounts that have not been used in over a year.
- Finished setting up a newer computer for the reception office.
- Continuing with the purchase of new Sun computers.
- Spent some time on CDS software support.
- Misc. user support.

CIT:
(Mike)
-Worked NTSRV's by updating critical system/security updates and firewall
software. I also went through all security/system logs looking for
intrusions and system errors. Everything seems to be OK for now.
-Worked with Ed Jasnow to get him an electronic signature, to sign
documents electronically.
-Updated Ansys software on Dennis Coyne's workstation; plus I installed
workbench.
-Backed up Barry Barish's old IBM laptop before sending this out for repairs.
I have received this laptop back from IBM and have updated the operating
system plus ran multiple tests to make sure the laptop is truly fixed.
Everything looks good.
-Had a few computers that were infected with viruses. I cleaned up the
registries and deleted the infected files.
-Updated Irene Baldon's computer by installing critical updates and getting
a current ghost image of her computer.
-Worked on a 2-U server as a backup server for General Computing.
-Updated Larry Jones computer with PDMWorks 2004 client. For some reason I
had a hard time trying to get this software to work. After uninstalling a
previous installation and then cleaning up all registry entries that were
related to PDMWorks; I was able to reinstall this software and get it
working again.
-Worked on Calum Torrie's laptop by installing the PDMWorks vault admin. I
also loaded the PDMWorks client on a sysadmin laptop for Calum to run some
test with PDMWorks that needed to confirm.
-Setup network connections for Cleveland & Linda to move into temporary
office locations for them work for a few days, while office repairs are
made in DCC.
-Burned all NTSRV's ghost images to DVD.
-Worked on Erica's laptop by running windows update and installing
additional software.

(Lisa)
- Worked on the replacement for acrux.
- I've been answering a lot of spam related questions for people. I
expect the spam situation to improve once I get the replacement
for acrux on line.
- I've had a couple of reports that the macintosh's are having trouble
switching between the old access points and the new. I suspect this
is a firmware/driver problem on the macintosh client side. I'll do
as much testing as I can with it, but it might be hard to track down.

(Bruce)
* (BS) Alfi 5 Software Development: (1.0 days)
- Installed enote discussion boards for use by
all LIGO groups. More detail:

          The enote tool is intended for use by any LIGO group
          which is interested in a discussion board type of log.
          It is a subject based log of ongoing discussions in the
          group, and is available here:

          Currently the only two boards are general instructions
          about using the boards, and the E2E group's board. Others
          can easily be added.

          This tool provides for a different usage than the ilog tool,
          which is a calendar based log instead of a subject based
          log.

          If both tools come into common usage within a group, it is
          possible to incorporate a search from ilog through an enote
          log as well (though it may not be a trivial task.)

(Veronica)
- LSC website: Finalised the webpage of LIGO Results. After
troubleshooting, posted it at the LSC website; linked it to the LIGO
homepage.
Updating the LSC March meeting website.
- LIGO website: Most time spent updating various pages throughout
the website, the usual upkeep. Updating Aspen 2004 conference
website. Posted new SURF summer projects. Did a few more trial runs
of videos shot at the NSB trying to find a right audio codec.

(Larry)
-Worked a number of procurement items. Nothing major just time sinks in
getting paperwork cleared up.
-Worked with DCC on a couple of items. Getting their computers moved for
their room modifications and a couple of document fixes.
-Assisted Mike on working on Barry's laptop. Mostly, ran diagnostics for
a number of hours. The unit is now with IBM to try and find the problem.
-Worked a couple of virus issues along with the large number of e-mail
spoofs and spamming issues.
-Spent time with the PMA group going over the changes to the computer room.
The installation of the fire suppression system should start in a few weeks.
-Regular assistance to different users. Also, setup and modified a number of
accounts this past week.
-Setup a couple of calendar accounts for Ryan.

Advanced LIGO Development (Shoemaker)

Advanced LIGO and supporting R&D

Seismic Isolation

From: Larry Jones <ljones@ligo.caltech.edu>

Advanced LIGO Seismic Structure

SEI Structure Design/Fab contract:

ASI is applying fewer hours than expected. Recent challenges have caused them to fall behind plan, as shown in the following paragraphs. They estimate a slippage of approximately two weeks.

The Configuration Intermediate Design Review (IDR) for the BSC and HAM structures was held on 17 Feb. The ASI staff struggled to complete all of their goals to prepare for this review, but difficulties with the BSC were too great. They decided go ahead and hold the IDR on schedule to inform us of their status and to receive our feedback.

ASI is comfortable with the balancing outlook of the HAM configuration. Even though we've mentioned a possibility of increasing the range of tolerance in locating the CG of Stage 2 with respect to the plane of the actuators at the Stage 1-2 interface, ASI plans to stay within the original requirement (for the HAM) and plans to meet our newly-revised vertical range of Payload nonsuspended mass CG locations with no operational changes in keel mass. The most difficult area of HAM configuration design is in accessing the instrument pods, especially the large ones containing the STS-2 seismometers. There are various plans to access these inside the HAM chambers, but all involve pain. We agreed to review our operational restraints and to respond to ASI with a listing of pain preferences by 20 Feb.

Particular characteristics of the BSC Payload are causing the designers grief. The large height of the quad suspension moves its CG a good distance away from the optical table, and the possibility of our having the lower two stages of the quad's caging structure mounted from the chamber floor instead of connected to the rest of the quad structure give a wide range of vertical moments to balance. In order to balance the maximum moment with the least mass, a "keel table" is positioned as high as our vertical height limit will permit. In order to balance horizontal moments, the keel balance mass is moved off center, giving a non-vertical principal axis. For the case of minimum vertical moment, some of the mass gets moved down to the optical table. Required payload balance mass is over 1000 lb (454 kg)! Because of the range of horizontal positioning required, ASI requested that they be permitted to make the optical table and the keel table as large as the HAM optical table; we agreed with that. ASI has made these tables 6" (152 mm) thick (ribbed boxes, not solid), and is still struggling to reach adequate stiffness (150 Hz). Mass may need to be transferred between the tables during operations if significant changes are made to the Payload; this will require BSC dome removal for access. ASI will provide mass characteristics for the BSC structure for 20 payload configurations, and Brian Lantz will run those on the controls model software to investigate the range of relief that we can give in the Stage 2 CG location. Also, Dennis Coyne will provide a SolidWorks model of the quad suspension structure, along with baseline footprints, CG locations, and masses for ASI's use in evaluating optical table stiffness. We had expected the BSC structure to be a big challenge in the design task, and it is.

The Design Review meeting (for BSC & HAM structures combined) was originally planned for March 16, but will now be late. Due to the amount of detail involved, it is likely that a full day will be required for reviewing each of the two structures. ASI is considering separating those and focusing on the BSC to minimize the delay in the BSC structure, which is LIGO's priority.

Actuator Testing and Redesign:

Actuator design requirements have been written and an RFP was sent to 5 potential sources, requesting responses by 20 February. The task was divided into 2 phases:

Phase I: design both the small and large actuators and fabricate a First Article of the large actuator. The LIGO Project will evaluate candidate materials by RGA testing.

Phase II: fabricate 14 actuators of each design and deliver them by July 16, 2004.

Position Sensor Probe Development:

Teflon coax cables representing 20 units of position sensors were cleaned and baked at LHO. These are in the process of getting RGA scanned.

Seismometer Procurement:

This task is on hold pending management approval for SEI structure prototype fabrication.

Galling/Dusting Test:

The cleaning and baking of Stainless Steel plates is now complete.

Suspension

From: JaneenRomie <romie_j@ligo.caltech.edu>

Provided Primavera updates to Thomas on Feb 6th for progress through the end of January. Caroline will provide progress, along with input from Helena and others, on ribbon/fiber process and ear design components. This will complete inputs on all SUS W.B.S elements.

Participated in Mike P-Ls and Calum'sSolidworks/PDMWorks tutorial today. They've done an outstanding job on providing a solid groundwork for design and configuration control.

Still getting up to speed after vacation.

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

Advanced LIGO Suspension

PDMWorks and SolidWorks
Mike Perreur-Lloyd and I gave a short presentation onPDMWorks and various SolidWorks tools at Caltech.

DM and SUS Meetings
The second design meeting with RAL and Glasgow was held on Monday at 8:00am. It was again very successful

Caltech Quad
Mike Perreur-Lloyd, Janeen and I are continuing to work on the quad design. This has included the bringing together of drawings from MPL summer 2003 visit and the more recent work done in January and February 2004. It is hope to arrange these in the vault

Structure Analysis
Looking at the quad structure with Dennis Coyne. Several different packages are being used for the analysis including IDEAS, ANSYS and ALGOR.

Core Optics

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

Advanced LIGO Coatings

Visit to CSIRO - Report

During the week of Feb.9th I spent three full days visiting CSIRO.
On Monday, February 9th, I attended a conference by Angus Macleod, who was visiting CSIRO. His talk looked at some current advances in optical coatings and important applications ranging from display technology to cellular biochemistry.
Dr. Angus Macleod has over 200 publications in the field of optics including the book Thin Film Optical Filters.
On the second day, day 1 of my official visit, we had a meeting on which CSIRO introduced their manufacturing capabilities and, I had a brief presentation on Adv. LIGO requirements, what we had achieved in coatings and what need it to be done.

In the coating area, they acquired a Veeco-Iontech SPECTOR Dual Ion Beam Sputtering (DIBS) system that is fully automated. This dual ion beam deposition technique, is a sort of ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) method. In this case, the growing thin films are simultaneously bombarded by ions with energies from tens to hundreds of electronvolts generated in the secondary ion source. The ions improve adhesion of the layers to the substrate, enhance density of the layers and create materials of unique properties. Because they sputter from a Ta target, the utilization of the second ion gun also allows for the oxidation of the film.
They are building a planetary rotator to solve the coating uniformity problem.
This coating chamber will not be able to handle Adv LIGO test masses without major reconfiguration; even then, they are going to be able to coat only one mirror on each coating run.
They have sufficient clean room space. At this time, they do not have the capability of handling large optics. They need to develop a mirror handler, up-grade their cleaning area and generate cleaning procedures for large optics.

CSIROs major strength is in film characterization; the Surface Engineering Science group has a large research and manufacturing program concerned with the measurement of mechanical properties of materials that include thin films. They have a nanoindentation instrument .The "UMIS" measures elastic modulus and hardness using a nano-indentation technique pioneered by CSIRO scientists.
They have a Rutherford Backscattering system for film analysis; it is especially useful in analysis of thin-film materials.
They also have XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) analysis capabilities. XRD is a powerful non-destructive technique for characterizing materials. It provides information on structures, phases, preferred crystal orientations (texture) and other structural parameters such as average grain size, crystallinity, strain and crystal defects of the films.

I think that we can utilize these capabilities to better understand our coating materials, as well as materials limitations.
The effects of substrate temperature, coating parameters, annealing temperatures, sputtering gases, etc, that modify the mechanical properties of the film can be studied in detail with these characterization techniques.

The first run of coating experiments will provide full characterization of Ta2O5, Al2O3 and SiO2 films deposited with / without ion bombardment. Youngs Modulus, stress and XRD characterization measurements will be performed.

Status reports for the CO Working Groups, Friday, February 20, 2004

Helena: Coating Development Status

Visit to CSIRO

During the week of Feb.9th I spent three full days visiting CSIRO. On Monday,

February 9th, I attended a conference by Angus Macleod, who was visiting CSIRO. His

talk looked at some current advances in optical coatings and important applications

ranging from display technology to cellular biochemistry. Dr. Angus Macleod has over

200 publications in the field of optics including the book Thin Film Optical Filters.

On the second day, day 1 of my "official visit", we had a meeting on which CSIRO

introduced their manufacturing capabilities and, I had a brief presentation on Adv. LIGO

requirements, what we had achieved in coatings and what need it to be done.

In the coating area, they acquired a Veeco-Iontech SPECTOR® Dual Ion Beam

Sputtering (DIBS) system that is fully automated. This dual ion beam deposition

technique, is a sort of ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) method. In this case, the

growing thin films are simultaneously bombarded by ions with energies from tens to

hundreds of electronvolts generated in the secondary ion source. The ions improve

adhesion of the layers to the substrate, enhance density of the layers and create materials

of unique properties. Because they sputter from a Ta target, the utilization of the second

ion gun also allows for the oxidation of the film. They are building a planetary rotator to

solve the coating uniformity problem. This coating chamber will not be able to handle

Adv LIGO test masses without major reconfiguration; even then, they are going to be

able to coat only one mirror on each coating run.

They have sufficient clean room space. At this time, they do not have the capability of

handling large optics. They need to develop a mirror handler, up-grade their cleaning area

and generate cleaning procedures for large optics.

CSIRO's major strength is in film characterization; the Surface Engineering Science

group has a large research and manufacturing program concerned with the measurement

of mechanical properties of materials that include thin films. They have a

nanoindentation instrument .The "UMIS" measures elastic modulus and hardness using a

nano-indentation technique pioneered by CSIRO scientists. They have a Rutherford

Backscattering system for film analysis; it is especially useful in analysis of thin-film

materials.

They also have XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) analysis capabilities. XRD is a powerful nondestructive

technique for characterizing materials. It provides information on structures,

phases, preferred crystal orientations (texture) and other structural parameters such as

average grain size, crystallinity, strain and crystal defects of the films.

I think that we can utilize these capabilities to better understand our coating materials, as

well as materials limitations. The effects of substrate temperature, coating parameters,

annealing temperatures, sputtering gases, etc, that modify the mechanical properties of

the film can be studied in detail with these characterization techniques.

The first run of coating experiments will provide full characterization of Ta2O5, Al2O3

and SiO2 films deposited with / without ion bombardment. Young's Modulus, stress and

XRD characterization measurements will be performed.

Gregg Harry – Coating Thermal Noise

The first tantala/silica coating on a thin substrate was hung and the first three modes

measured for Q. The coating was slightly damaged by the torch during the hanging

process, so these numbers are upper limits for the coating mechanical loss.

Mode Frequency Q coating phi (10^-4)

BF x 2701.6 Hz 338,000 4.1

BF + 2703.8 Hz 334,000 4.2

DH 4082.2 Hz 263,000 5.0

Despite formally being upper limits, these phi's are pretty well in line with silica/tantala

coatings from other vendors, being about 50 percent higher than SMA and MLD, and

actually about 25 percent lower than REO. There is still this odd and unexplained

difference between the BF's and the DH, where the DH phi comes out a little higher.

Work continues on finding higher frequency modes.

The 15 cm diameter X 8 cm thick sapphire sample is also hung in the big bell jar. The

lowest 10 modes were found in air, with the lowest frequency one being about 20 kHz.

There is very good agreement between the predicted frequencies and the FEA model.

One mode, mode 11, has been found in vacuum and has a Q about 1 million. This is

likely suspension limited, though, as little effort has go ne into optimizing. Work

continues on this, both in the lab and with FEA modeling.

We are expecting a 4 cm diameter X 30 cm long sapphire rod soon. This should have

lower frequency modes, to investigate lose at frequencies closer to 100 Hz.

Eric Black – TNI

At the TNI, we have been working on putting error bars on our thermal noise

measurements and our resulting coating loss angles. Our calibration uncertainties are

typically less than 10%, and our "shot to shot" variation, that is the reproducibility of our

thermal noise floor from day to day, is on the order of 1% or less. However, when we

removed and reinstalled the mirrors for one arm cavity (SAC), we saw the noise floor

increased by about 25%, resulting in a 50% change in phi. The old value for phi was

1.3e-4; the new one is 1.9e-4. This still does not bring the noise floor up to the level

predicted by the ringdown measurements, which had, if I recall correctly, a phi of about

5e-4.

The only obvious change upon removing and reinstalling the mirrors is in the alignment,

and thus the position of the laser spot on the mirror coating. This raises the possibility

that the thermal noise might have some variation across the surface of the optic, but it is

too soon to draw any conclusions. We know from Bill Kells' work that coatings often

exhibit optical point defects, and those may affect the local mechanical loss.

We also received a set of coated 1" samples from Stanford. We are in the process of

applying gold coatings to these, after which we plan to measure the coating thermal

expansion coefficients and thermal conductivities using photothermal displacement

spectroscopy.

Steve Penn: Mechanical Loss - Fused Silica Annealing

It is said that experiments are 90% set-up and 10% data taking, but this month has been

100% set-up. The vacuum annealing furnace is now back online. We had developed a

vacuum leak that I spent several days trying to fix before calling in a repair crew from the

furnace vendor. It took 3 days but they found the leak and fixed it.

Then on Friday one of my turbo pumps failed, so I am down to one measuring system

until that pump is fixed.

I have finally received the silica crucible in which the samples will be annealed. Also

many thanks to Helena for bonding ears on the remaining samples that required

attachments.

So we are now ready to start vacuum annealing ....

Weekly Report for Week Ending February 19, 2004

Special Announcements:

LSC Issues (Saulson)

LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)