Weekly Report for Week Ending June 08, 2006

Due to the LIGO Staffing Committee Meeting June 12, 2006, there will be no LIGO Executive Committee meeting scheduled that day.

Special Announcements:

>From: Jay Marx <marx_j@ligo.caltech.edu>     Subject: Advanced LIGO Baseline review

     The NSF Baseline Review of Advanced LIGO has concluded. This review is a critical step for Advanced LIGO with the purpose of validating our estimated cost, schedule, scope and technical approach as well as our plan for management of the project. The results of this review will have a very significant impact on the decision of the National Science Board whether to request initial construction funding for fiscal year 2008.

     The review committee consisted of about 20 outside technical and project experts. They asked tough questions and drilled down to the detailed levels to find if we have a solid basis for proceeding with the project.

     At the closeout we were treated to a very positive result. The committee told us that they were "impressed." They indicated that they felt we are ready for construction and that the committee believes that the project can be completed successfully on schedule within the estimated total project cost.

     We couldn't ask for a better result.

     I'm extremely pleased and especially impressed with the great job done by the Advanced LIGO team. A great job at the review, a great job preparing for the review, and a great job in putting together a solid project design, plan, etc. based on the experience and the technical achievements of the whole LIGO community through the design, construction, and difficult process of bringing initial LIGO to its current level of sensitivity.

     We should all feel very pleased with the result of this review

 

Weekly Report Highlights

LSC Issues (Saulson)

 

  • The LSC held a successful Observational Results meeting at MIT on 3-4 June.  We heard updates on S5 analysis, and also discussed a number of drafts of papers based on S4. The Stochastic Group presented a mature draft of their S4 all-sky search paper. Less mature drafts of papers were presented on the CW semi-coherent search, LLO-ALLEGRO stochastic search, S4 untriggered burst search and the S2/S3/S4 GRB-triggered burst search.

 

LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

STATUS OF LSC MOUs (Lloyd)

LSC MOUs and Research Plans and Progress Reports

  • No report this week.

SITE TELECONFERENCE (Lindquist)

>Reported by: Ed Jasnow <jasnow@ligo.caltech.edu>

A site teleconference was conducted Thursday, June 8, 2006.  Among the topics were:

  • Discussion was held regarding the issue of "extension" vs. "renewal" of the I2U2 effort from Fermi Lab.  The difference relates to the application of indirect charges to the grant.  These issues will be addressed with the Office of Sponsored Research.
  • The LLO SEC remains on schedule.  An index of change orders with Cangelosi-Ward has been developed for review.  Construction is near the end of the heavy phase that affects the interferometer.
  • A schedule for procurement and production of the LLO SEC kinetic facade is being developed.  This will include possible advance procurement of long-lead items.
  • The use of a second teleconference carrier will be implemented shortly.  The staff will be divided between the two carriers.
  • There are no open assigned actions.  The list of assigned actions updated through December 1, 2005 (the last time that it was updated) will be found Here.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (Luna)

>From: Rod Luna <rluna@ligo.caltech.edu>

  • Provided assistance to Allen Sibley in FedExing the certificate of origin for the new van to Harvest Ford in LA.
  • Coordinated the disposal of old monitors, computers and printers. Account Number LIGO.DAT-1.5.3-NSFLIGO.FY2ON.
  • Provided assistance to the LDAS Group  (S. Anderson) with coordinating the shipping of 2 computer racks to LLO and LHO. Account Number  LIGO.DAT - 1.5.1- NSFLIGO.FY02ON.
  • Created property records for the new Van and the Mode Master System at LHO.
  • Working with Property Services to reconcile 40 Fabrication Accounts 1999-2003.

DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner, Mak)

>From: Linda Turner <turner@ligo.caltech.edu>

  • No report.

>From: Cleveland Mak <mak_c@ligo.caltech.edu>

  • Processed presentations from the LSC Meeting at MIT.
  • Continued to assist in the process of conversion of current data to the new database.
  • *Update on Scanning* - Progress continues on scanning of contract closeout files.
  • Additional activity:

Week Ending

06/08/2006

In

Out

Packages

37

8

Faxes

24

16

 

COST SCHEDULE CONTROL SYSTEMS (Cronin, Brambila, Kaufman)

>From: "Cronin, Holly" <Holly.Cronin@caltech.edu>

 

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

 

  • Completed change order #35 to GSI Optics and submitted it to the vendor.
  • Completed change order #14 for Kaufman and sent out the agreement.
  • Completed change order #5 to the Exploratorium and submitted it to the vendor.
  • Prepared the package for Triad's c/o #174 and submitted it for approval. Obtained the renewal of the Certificate of insurance to complete the package.
  • Placed the machining order for MIT.
  • Completed the new computer order for Larry Wallace and submitted it to the vendor.
  • Responded to various inquiries on invoices. Waiting for a response on a pending invoice issue.
  • Reconciled the billed pcard transactions.

>From: Florence Kaufman <fkaufman>

SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Jasnow, Salone)

>From: Gina Salone <gsalone@ligo.caltech.edu>

  • Nothing significant to report.

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

  • Nothing significant to report.

PROPOSALS and REPORTS (Lindquist)

  • No report (on vacation).
  • Requests for material for the LIGO Operations Annual Report have been distributed.  Contributions are due Friday, June 23, 2006.

CHANGE CONTROL/CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT (Lindquist)

  • No open change requests.

HUMAN RESOURCES (Akutagawa)

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

  • No special activities to report.

Quality/Safety (Tyler)

>From: Bill Tyler tyler@ligo.caltech.edu

  • Nothing significant to report.

 

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

Summary of Commissioning Activities at LIGO Hanford Observatory  (compiled by M. Landry)

 

Good running these evenings has been impacted by some form of seismic driver that pops up at 1am for ~6h hours, presumably due to DOE activity.  The noise causes upconversion into the GW band and kicks up roll modes of optics, the result is a 1/2 Mpc drop in range on H1 (see the effect on both IFOs in this FOM... (also observed in this plot are incessant DMT dropouts that plague us periodically).

 

S5 highlights are bulleted below:

 

  • this week's range and duty cycle report is posted here... for the weekly D. Sigg writes, "The range and duty cycle update now computes the HL coincidence uptime (L1 and at least one LHO detector) and uses it to calculate the length of the 1-year coincidence run. In the weekly numbers for the HL coincidence the 2.4% downtime due to the maintenance period is excluded. Using this measure our duty cycle was 73% for the previous week and 77% for the past week. The predicted end date from 2 weeks of data has moved to May 2007 and we have close to 100 days of HL coincidence data....  The triple coincidence (using the old method) also exceeded 70% for the past week."
  • a lock-duration study was performed, showing that H2 has about 40% more segments than H1, and the latter's lock stretches are typically and hour longer
  • photon calibrator work: we continue to make additional measurements at different frequencies, and try to nail down systematics in photodiodes etc. to understand the calibration discrepancy coming from this subsystem
  • range and seismicity studies were posted to the elog... 1/range is fit in a basis which includes all seismometers
  • click here for a spectral line update
  • h1awg0 continues to perform well with little or no reboots, so we consider this problem fixed
  • although a final figure for the number of hours we can use on IFO maintenance is not set, we've begun to make a limited number of measurements and tasks to charge against this budget... PEPI characterization is coming along with a debugging of the software path through the system... upconversion studies took 1/2 hour on Thursday
  • PEM injections on H1 suggest backscatter is not a problem from portions of the beamtubes
  • we're trying about a week of running with the H2 ASPD5 trigger so high it is effectively off; once diagnosing whether it was really working or not we'll settle on the configuration.

 

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

New at LLO (Zucker)

  • This week we welcomed Kathy Holt and Deborah Muhammad to the LLO krew. They will be helping us bring LIGO science to kids and teachers as part of the Science Education Center staff. Say "Hi" and pay attention, you might learn something!

L1 in S5 (Yakushin)

  • During most of the week we had very good duty cycle (on some days as high as 98%!) and inspiral range (most of the time around 14Mpc). However, most of the day yesterday and this morning we could not lock the interferometer due to outreach center construction work. That reduced our duty cycle for the week to 76%.

L1 CDS (Bogue)

  • Added 200 channels to the frame.
  • Installed Dave Barker's code to track CRC problems in the framebuilders.
  • Helped resolve some hepi problems that occurred during maintenance.
  • Worked with Shannon and Dave Barker on changes to the CDS nat router rules.
  • Working with Doug on the weather stations and straightening out the PEM channels.
  • Began looking into what it will take to start pulling facilities information into the frames.  This is a long term project that I expect will take a couple of months.
  • Looked into creating an audible alert for the BeamCentering PC.  It looks like this would require a code change in the BC servo in order to implement.

Safety/Security (Riesen)

  • (MZ for Riesen) Rich continued addressing safety improvements suggested in our audit, and drafted (with Rupal Amin and Joe Giaime) a new laser SOP to cover the AdL high-power amplifier slated for testing in the optics lab.

LLO Outreach (Thacker)

>From: Mike Zucker for John Thacker

 

  • In addition to Kathy and Deborah joining us, our two summer RET participants, Kay Gersch and Gloria Steptoe just arrived.
  • All just in time for an intensive exhibit training session this week conducted by Thomas Humphrey and Lori Lambertson from the Exploratorium. Teachers and administrators from around the state have gathered at LLO to learn how to employ our SEC interactive exhibits and themes from LIGO science in their curricula.

 

>From: John Thacker <jthacker@ligo-la.caltech.edu>

 

  • Monday: conducted outreach program for Monticello High science club; this group, whose school year was already completed, drove 3.5 hrs by bus to get to LLO.
  • Exhibit training for Group B exhibits conducted Tues/Wed.
  • Project PRISM, a Math/Science teacher professional development program with Southeastern Louisiana University, started their summer workshop at LLO on Thursday.

LIGO Computing and Network Security (Roddy)

  • set up several PCs and a couple of laptops for new hires and RETs.
  • ordered a couple of PCs for the labs.
  • reading through documentation for AD domains for the windows machines.  Investigating various windows tools to aid in the setup of new machines, many of which will require a domain.  Also looking into certificates, etc. on the windows side of the house.  Investigating consequences of running a AD domain for laptop users...  sometimes can be awkward.  Not sure if things have improved since the NT4/Win2k server days.
  • several DNS changes
  • a couple of firewall changes (CDS related)
  • discussed some long term network planning issues with Lisa.
  • planning travel to CIT, hopefully next week.

General Computing and LDAS Admin (Giardina)

  • moved "natalia" linux box from common area to my office for now.
  • travel to LHO.
  • Dave Barker had a machine with a FC5 NIS authentication issue, and firefox problems.  both are currently functional.
  • attempting to troubleshoot a SCSI controller problem in machine for Dave.
  • replaced motherboard in node99 and put it back in service.
  • travel to LHO.
  • continued working on a ganglia replacement to monitor our cluster statistics, gave Greg and Ben a demo, asking for their suggestions.
  • overview of publishing from Ben.
  • will be assisting Ben with h(t) CO1 and CO2 file switch/rename later today.

Data Analysis (Yakushin)

  • 3 T3 disks failed during this week and were replaced by spares; currently we have 12 spare disks and 2 controllers left at LLO.
  • Ejected 60 S5 L0 tapes to store in the tape cabinet and replaced them with 60 blank tapes last Thursday since we were running low on tape space and would not make it through the weekend.
  • Ejected 9 S5 L0 tapes to  ship to CIT and replaced them with 9 blank tapes during Tuesday maintenance period.
  • Increased the number of semaphores on gateway@CIT for the needs of segment database.

 

Initial LIGO Detector Science & Engineering (Coyne)

Nothing significant to report.

40 Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)

 

  • We had a meeting of the 40m Technical Advisory Committee Thursday morning, 6/8/06. Transparencies (G060280-00-R) are here, in ppt and pdf.
  • Osamu gave a talk on the status of the 40m, and Monica gave a talk on the status of her e2e simulations of the 40m, at Elba. To be posted soon.
  • On Monday, we expect four new summer SURF students to arrive: Jenne Driggers of U Washington, Darcy Barron of U Illinois, David Malling of Syracuse U, and Royal Reinecke of Caltech.

IFO Commissioning

  • Rob and Rana continue to optimize sensing signals and lock acquisition procedures. The lock acquisition for the full dual-recycled FPMI now proceeds smoothly, and the last steps are being refined.
  • Rob and Rana have done much work on developing scripts for automating various lock acquisition steps.
  • The MC WFS is now working again, after the beamline was relocated to the AP table. Dan is working with Rana on optimizing the diagonalization of the ASC control plant.

DC Detection and Vacuum Squeezing Development

  • Rob and Sam have completely aligned the DC readout beamline (on a table in air), locked the OMC, coarsely focused the OMMT, and seen signals on the DC PDs. They put a fiber-fed beam in place of the DC PD and ran the whole thing backwards; this is how they plan to align the system to the interferometer when it is installed into the vacuum system.
  • Rob set up a dither-lock system for alignment of the beam into the OMC, and closed the loop on one degree of freedom (of 4; pitch and yaw from two TT PZT mirrors); to do more we need more lockins (or the digital control system).
  • The DC readout beamline is now just about ready to be dismantled for clean/bake. We plan to install near the end of July.
  • The DC readout controls are in progress (Ben, Jay, Rolf, Rich). Ben finished and delivered the DCPD Satellite box so Rob can test it with the PD head. He's getting close to finishing the QPD Whitening board PCB layout. It should go to PCB Express sometime soon. On order: control computer, ADC and DAC cards, Refl Memory card. Being built: AA and AI interface boards. Design nearly complete: OMC PZT driver, TT PZT driver. We hope to have everything in place by the end of July.

PSL

  • Our MOPA continues to have cooling problems, and the head temperature is inversely correlated with the output power. there is some evidence that the cooling water line is getting blocked, requiring rooting. Steve is consulting with Peter King on what to do.
  • Rana made a PSLwatch script in Perl. It uses the new 16 bit IFO State vector and manages the running of the autolocker scripts for the FSS, PMC, MZ, and eventually the ISS.

Electronics, Controls, Computers

  • Our Framebuilder RAID array was accidentally switched off, causing the DAQ to go down and controls to be very unhappy. It took a while (and Alex Ivanov's help) to find the problem. Meanwhile, all the control computers were rebooted.
  • Rana and Bob built a patch panel for the RF heliac cable distribution on the LSC rack. Now much better strain relief and organization.
  • Rana compared the frequency stability of some of the equipment in the lab.
  • Ben brought over the new timing distribution modules from LHO, that we will install sometime in the future.
  • Steve and Bob ran more video cable to/from the new location of the SP CCD camera and the video switch.

 

Thermal Noise Interferometer (Black)

 

  • Akira has finished debugging the OSEM controllers and is back to measuring mirror Q's with the kapton-tape ring damper in place. The pattern of poor Q reduction persists, and our preliminary conclusion is that more mass would be needed to suppress the parametric oscillations.
  • There has been some schedule slip in the optimized-coating project. We are waiting on new measurements of the loss angle in fused-silica coatings, to be used in Vincenzo and Innocenzo's design program. Sheila Rowan and her group at Glasgow are ready to do the measurement, as soon as they get a sample. LMA is working on samples, and they expect to deliver a sample to Glasgow and start a measurement the week after next.

 

LASTI (Ottaway)

No Report.

Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)

Simulation and Modeling (Yamamoto)

Hiro's report now appears under the Advanced LIGO section.

Data Analysis Activities (Lazzarini)

Dupuis:

 

  • went to LSC meeting at MIT and gave two presentations.
  • working on speeding up max likelihood calculation in targeted pulsar search.
  • continuing analysis of J0537-6910.

 

Mendell:

 

  • Presented an update on the S4 PowerFlux, StackSlide, and Hough paper at the June 3-4, 2006 LSC meeting; DCC number LIGO-G060234-00-W.

 

Shawhan:

 

  • Attended the LSC Meeting and the Burst Group face-to-face meeting.
  • Read pulsar paper drafts.

 

Sutton:

 

  • This week I've been studying various issues of coherent network analysis, partly in response to the reviewer's report on our submission of gr-qc/0605002 to PRD.  In particular, I've been studying the number of independent sky pixels and the expected sky resolution for the LIGO-Virgo network, and made a rough first- principles estimate of the SNR at which our consistency test should fail.
  • I've also been estimating from first principles the ROC curves of various coherent GWB detection statistics, including the "standard" and "constraint" likelihoods.  The most difficult part is using the covariance of the null energy for nearby sky positions in the noise-only case to estimate the trials factor in an all-sky search.
  • Finally, I also participated by phone in the bursts meeting at MIT.

 

LIGO Data Analysis System

Software Systems (Blackburn)

LDAS

 

  • Investigation into timeouts in API with the new Tcl/Tk 8.4.12 remains the primary focus. To this end, the eventmonAPI was modified to rectify a race condition on setting of a global variable.
  • The old trace syntax is being systematically replace with the new syntax. This work should be done by next week.
  • Additional debugging has been added to a couple of routine to better understand how the system is functioning.
  • The system tests were done using ldas 1.8.200. The cacheDump python script is unable to dump the cache out as it is unable to locate the diskscan module despite its presence in the current directory.

 

TCLGLOBUS

 

  • Version 1.1.0 of TclGlobus has been released. The significant change in this release is the ability for clients to choose the delegation mode of NONE, LIMITED, or FULL. The default is NONE which results in the fastest negotiation time to connect to a server.
  • Attended the VDT weekly meeting to discuss status of next VDT release. No discussion of TclGlobus this week, but the problems compiling the next version of Globus (including the build under Fedora Core 4 requested by LIGO) have now been resolved.

 

GRID COMPUTING

 

  • The LIGO Work Flow Planner now has a CVS repository and GNATs problem tracking system. The software has been enhanced by combining workflow preference for set grid and set grid pool into one tab, modifying the GSIFTP data transfer functionality, work flow button activation/deactivation, and the work flow functionalities use user preferences.
  • Created an additional DAGMan submit host by installing and configuring VDT, Condor DAGMan, and VDS on a FC4 system. This host to be used for testing FC4 kernels and glibc releases for compatibility with Condor DAGMan.
  • Meeting with Duncan Brown and Kent Blackburn, obtained preliminary information on a hierarchical inspiral pipeline analysis and a collection of data files required to bootstrap a work flow design.  A number of issues related to planning and managing the execution of a data analysis spanning both the LIGO Data Grid and the Open Science Grid will be explored.
  • Working with Michael Samidi, refined the user preference Graphical User Interface elements and Tcl state machines in the LIGO workflow planner app.
  • Attended the weekly OSG ITB telecom on planning for OSG ITB release 0.5.0.

Hardware Systems (Anderson)

Caltech


(Dan Kozak)

 

  • Finally got the node170:/usr1 automount on dataserver-cit problem fixed--umount /data/node170 was required.
  • Pushed /samtest up the hill again--no problems with 3510-12 (or 3510-10) since we replaced 6 of the drives.
  • Finished checking that all S5 L0 data (up until the most recent tape shipment) has made it to CIT.
  • Worked with Igor to eject tapes for shelf storage at LLO and import/ label new tapes.
  • Took some measurements of space/power/cooling usage in Powell-Booth for Albert.
  • Added to CIT tape space by relabeling a batch of tapes that had been used for testing.
  • Made some archiving changes associated with Xavi generating large amounts of h(t) data in /home and then it being copied to /archive.
  • Made some archiving changes to /home to try to avoid writing short-lived files to tape.
  • Normal ingesting stuff.

 

(Erik Espinoza)

 

  • Spoke w/ AMD about Machine Check Exceptions.
  • Shipped node328 to SuperMicro for analysis.
  • RMA'd 16 1gb Memory & 3 Disks to ASA.
  • Verified that kickstart is still in sync w/ our running configuration (node327).
  • Testing node327 w/ Cerberus Test Suite.
  • Tested Linux for max # of simultaneous mounts (max is 181).
  • Tested collectd for lm_sensors monitoring.
  • Looking into lm_sensors issues, works on some nodes properly, but not all.
  • Reported ssh hanging bug on log_mon to Phil, assisted in work around.
  • Assisted Dave Meyers w/ replicating the frog package configuration.
  • Wrote & tested script for executing "verify" on raid disk.
  • Wrote ipmi wrapper script for ldas-kickstart, "ipmi nodeX" now works.
  • Hard disk replacement on node325 (port 3).
  • Kernel Crashes on Nodes

     - Friday June 2: node30, node128, node154, node158, node264

                 - Saturday June 3: node14, node41, node68, node312

                 - Monday June 5: node43

                 - Tuesday June 6: node197

                 - Wednesday June 7: node40, node214

                 - Thursday June 8: node242

 

(Phil Ehrens)

 

  • Added LDAS-Workflow GNATS database.
  • Configured desktop machine "boo" for use by SURF student.
  • Configured laptop for use by Satjya Mitra.
  • Various robustness enhancements for log_mon.tcl, including a heartbeat monitor that can restart the log_mon demon within one minute if it becomes hung, or dies, or is killed.

 

(Stuart Anderson)

 

  • Helped move the S5 version 2 calibrated h(t) frames between various filesystems at CIT.
  • Loaded the LIGO S5 L4 RDS and version 2 h(t) frames into the LDAS- CIT cluster.
  • Loaded the GEO S5 h(t) frames into the LDAS-CIT cluster.
  • Identified and cleaning up after cluster user create 2.2M directories in their home account.
  • Upgraded LHO/LLO/MIT clusters from LDG-3.5 to LDG-4.0.
  • Identified and installed Sol10 patch for svc.configd using too much cpu time on a test machine.

 

MIT


(Keith Bayer)

 

  • Moved pcraid10 and pcraid11 to separate 20amp circuit.
  • Rebooted Foundry switches in hopes of calming internal network latencies which were growing much too high.

 

Livingston


(Igor Yakushin)

 

  • 3 T3 disks failed during this week and were replaced by spares; currently we have 12 spare disks and 2 controllers left at LLO.
  • Ejected 60 S5 L0 tapes to store in the tape cabinet and replaced them with 60 blank tapes last Thursday since we were running low on tape space and would not make it through the weekend.
  • Ejected 9 S5 L0 tapes to  ship to CIT and replaced them with 9 blank tapes during Tuesday maintenance period.
  • Increased the number of semaphores on gateway@CIT for the needs of segment database.

 

(Dwayne Giardina)

 

  • Replaced motherboard in node99 and put it back in service.
  • Travel to LHO.
  • Continued working on a ganglia replacement to monitor our cluster statistics, gave Greg and Ben a demo, asking for their suggestions.
  • Overview of publishing from Ben.
  • Will be assisting Ben with h(t) CO1 and CO2 file switch/rename later today.

 

Hanford


(Greg Mendell)

 

  • I am going to get realtime publication of SFTs running today. One obstacle that I discovered yesterday is that SFT generation jobs running on the nodes created with kickstart are failing at LHO.  I am working with Ben Johnson to sort this out. Dwayne Giardina is also visiting from LLO this week, and I will go over some of the scripts I run with him.

 

(Ben Johnson)

 

  • Working with Dwayne in renaming/deleting/republishing/publishing the h(t) files.
  • Unsuccessfully tested user environment cleanup script at LHO. Apparently, if someone specifies .noldg, they get lots of garbage printed to their screen.
  • Increased available semaphores for DB2 (segment database).
  • RLS core dumped 3 times on Tuesday. Core files and logs sent to Kevin Flasch.
  • Pulsar jobs are occasionally failing on the kickstarted cluster nodes. The only appreciable differences appear to be g++ and libstdc++ "compat" packages not being on the kick started nodes. I've loaded  them on the kickstarted nodes and will update the package list on the kickstart server.

General Computing (Wallace)

MIT


(Keith)

 

  • Helped with LSC conference.
  • 4 laptops and 3 projectors sent back to Caltech.
  • Getting new urops settled with computer equipment.
  • Ordered various computer supplies.

Livingston

(Dwayne)

 

  • Moved "natalia" linux box from common area to my office for now
  • Travel to LHO
  • Dave Barker had a machine with a FC5 NIS authentication issue, and firefox problems.  Both are currently functional.
  • Attempting to troubleshoot a SCSI controller problem in machine for Dave.

 

(Shannon)

 

  • set up several PCs and a couple of laptops for new hires and RETs.
  • ordered a couple of PCs for the labs
  • reading through documentation for AD domains for the windows machines.  Investigating various windows tools to aid in the setup of new machines, many of which will require a domain.  Also looking into certificates, etc. on the windows side of the house.  Investigating consequences of running a AD domain for laptop users...  sometimes can be awkward.  Not sure if things have improved since the NT4/Win2k server days.
  • several DNS changes
  • a couple of firewall changes (CDS related)
  • discussed some long term network planning issues with Lisa.
  • planning travel to CIT, hopefully next week.

Hanford

(Christine)

 

  • Still setting up new computers.
  • First SURF has arrived, the rest will be here next week.  Each has to read the Computer Use Policy before getting their account.  Created accounts for all the SURFs.
  • Helped SURF and mentor with their attempt to build e2e on one of the new Solaris 10 machines.
  • Ordered three new PCs to replace old guest computers and provide more computers for summer visitors.
  • Provided info to Control Room Operators, SciMon and Shourov about mounting of ldas filesystems on GC Sun computers so they could run Shourov's qscan script.
  • Created a new user account for a SciMon.
  • Added a long term visitor to the local e-mail lists.

CIT

(Mike)

 

  • Working on SATA Raid array system that has no LED lights. This has two bad disks which I tested individually and found the bad ones. I'm in the process of coming up with a labeling scheme to identify these disks in more quickly fashion. I am now replacing them with backup disks and will be rebuilding this server.
  • Techmart training.
  • Most of this week I worked on Barry's laptop replacing a bad hard disk. This required me rebuilding his laptop from scratch. This is a big job due to many Gigabytes of data that had to be moved over. Plus reloading a lot of additional software besides our standard GC software load.
  • Continued work on the spam filters, searching for false positives.
  • Other misc. work for users.

 

(Veronica)

 

  • LIGO: Support of the AdvLIGO NSF review. Working on the webpages for the LIGO Academic Advisory Committee.  Updates of the LIGO and MIT homepages. Roster database updates.
  • LSC: Posted the presentations of the June meeting.  Updates of the LSC website. Updates of the mailing lists.
  • CaJAGWR: Website updates.

 

(Christian)

 

  • Florence Kaufman- Created a backup of Florence's workstation.
  • Jay Heefner- Configured new laptop with the standard Ligo image to replace Jay's old laptop.
  • Jim Covington- Replaced Jim's old CRT monitor with a new LCD monitor.
  • Linda Turner- Installed new LCD Monitor for Linda to use with her laptop.
  • Worked on the Spam Filters with Mike and Larry.
  • Reloaded laptop that was returned to the loaner pull this week.
  • Helping set things up for the SURF students.
  • Worked on getting equipment together to be turned over to Caltech.
  • Other misc.: Continued onsite software/phone support.

 

(Larry)

 

  • Worked a number of procurement items. Ordered a new disk storage system for the home accounts. Ordered misc. items for Barry's computer. Ordered and received UPS units for the computer room. Working on getting some maint. contracts and s/w licenses updated.
  • Still working the problem server from Monarch computer. There in fact appears to be multiple problems with the machine. They are now trying to get a tech. to come out and look at the unit so we don't have to send it back again.
  • Assisted Mike on a couple of computer setups. Mostly working on getting Barry's unit up and running.
  • Rebuilt another laptop. The disk Christian made for building new systems saved me a lot of time. Still a number of applications to install but it is going well.
  • Tested out a new SUN system. The workstation 45 is a nice unit. We will be reloading the OS on it next week.
  • Worked a number of logistical issues concerning some network testing and setup with Shannon.
  • Worked on the backups and some related issues.
  • Setup a number of new accounts for new arrivals and modified a couple of existing accounts. Continual cleaning off of old accounts.
  • Worked on a couple of documents that needed to be updated. Presently trying to get some of the diagrams of the computer room updated.
  • Worked with Christian, Mike and Rod on getting a number of old computer items turned over to Caltech. This helped clean up some of the storage space, we don't have a great deal of equipment sitting on the floor in the shared storage room.
  • Worked a couple of small server issues. Mostly just some killing of  rogue processes.
  • Continual work on the spam filters. The amount of spam getting put into the group needing human attention has doubled over the past few weeks.

Mail Statistics for June 01 - 07, 2006

Mail Statistics

June 08, 2006

Rejected Messages

42,742

Virus Messages

1,500

Accepted Messages

20,807

Total Messages

63,549

 

Advanced LIGO and Supporting R&D (Shoemaker)

Advanced LIGO Systems, Management

Modeling and Simulation

>From: Hiroaki Yamamoto <hiro@ligo.caltech.edu>

 

SIS : Static Interferometer Simulation for Adv.LIGO (Hiro Yamamoto)

 

The development of SIS is still going. FP version will be released next week. It was difficult to use measured phase maps of LIGO I mirrors in the LIGO I FFT simulation because the input data needed to be converted to a data file of a specific format. SIS accepts any data format (no specific grid size), and no special conversion is needed. Also, a mathematical expression can be used to define the surface,  possibly combining with data file inputs. This makes it possible to simulation a Mexican hat mirror, e.g.,  just by specifying the surface by a mathematical formula.

 

Adv.LIGO e2e Mechanics system modeling (Sany Yoshida, Jameson Quave)

 

SLU group is in charge of adapting and maintaining the models of the mechanical systems developed in each subgroup so that e2e simulations can simulate those parts as realistic as possible. Validated the e2e box file we built to simulate AdvLIGO quad suspension by comparing suspension point to optic (the lowest stage mass) transfer functions with the equivalent transfer functions computed by Mark Barton's mathematica model. The e2e box file uses the state space matrices generated by the mathematic model. White noise was injected to the suspension point of the e2e model for three translational and three rotational degrees of freedom (one DOF at a time), and the transfer functions to the optic were computed for each injection. Comparison was made by plotting these transfer functions on the same graph as the corresponding transfer functions computed by the mathematica code that generated the state space matrices included by the e2e code. For all the degrees of freedom, both model showed good agreement.

 

gcc code generation (Hiro Yamamoto)

 

It was observed that FC4 generates an executable which is not properly optimized under certain conditions. This slowed down the dual recycling cavity simulation by factor of 10. FC5 has been installed on my Intel machine, and will test if the problem is solved or not.

Seismic Isolation

BSC Seismic Isolation Assembly and Test

>From: Ken Mason <kmason@ligo.mit.edu>

 

Fred Miller and Myron have succesfully installed the first stage 1-2 spring assembly. Fixturing designed by ASI was used to bend the .50" thick maraging steel blades and install the flex rods. The other 2 springs will be installed on friday.

 

All but (1) part has been recieved from Limerick Machine. We are still waiting for the stage 0-1 spring post.

 

We have mounted dummy masses to simulate the payload, instruments, and actuators.

 

Jon Schechter a summer undergraduate student is using solidworks to arrange these masses and place the CG in on the actuator axis. Jon is also assembling the blade flexure fixture for the new stage 0-1 softer

Seismic

>From: Ben Abbott <abbott_b@ligo.caltech.edu>

 

I'm finishing up the system schematic for the Lasti HAM-SAS prototype.  This will show us all of the wiring, interconnects, and modules that we will need to make the system happen.

AdL SEI testing at LASTI

>From: Jay Heefner <jay@ligo.caltech.edu>

 

  • ADCs, DACs and network cards needed for the HAM SAS and ISI systems at LASTI have been ordered.
  • Anti-Alias and Anti-Image boards needed for SAS and ISI are being stuffed. Chassis have been received.
  • Power supply and interface boards needed for AA and AI chassis have been received and are being stuffed.

40M OMC and LASTI Squeezed Light

>From: Jay Heefner <jay@ligo.caltech.edu>

 

  • The AI circuit used for slower sample rate systems was tested for use in a 32K sample per second system. The circuit appears to perform adequately. No excess noise, slew rate limits or non-linearities were observed. This circuit will be used for the first systems installed. A different, higher frequency, circuit will be designed for the possibility of pushing the sample frequency to 64K or 128K samples per second. Similar tests will be performed on the present AA filter.

Suspension

>From: "Greenhalgh, RJS \(Justin\)" <J.Greenhalgh@rl.ac.uk>

 

ALUK held its latest Project Management Committee on 9th June 2006 (See LIGOM060084-

00-K). A brief activity summary follows:

 

  • All preparations continue for PDR#3, with documents due in on 16th June.

-         Plan is to produce a web site similar to the one Glasgow made for PDR#2

-         There will be a “start here” overview paper with pointers to the other (~50) documents and summaries of key technical issues.

-         We also hope produce one or more “info packs” of a single pdf including the most relevant papers in an area (masses, structures, assembly, systems issues) to help guide the reviewers to the most useful documents.

  • RAL: Other technical work has included drum-end wire tests (suspended); assembly procedure discussions; some work on marionette (stalled awaiting parts); manufacture of trial “sleeve” for dynamics tests (planned to be done in week of 18th June); work on earthquake stops.
  • Glasgow: Prototype ear manufacturer selected; CO2 welding machine in Italy being assembled (for EGO/Virgo); much work identifying suppliers for non-metal masses for noise P-type; firm up on spec for RM.
  • Birmingham: Continued to keep abreast of “OSEM failures” on controls p-type; working on OSEM drawings; manufacturing study for OSEMs; prepare for OSEM thermal tests.

 

>From: Ken Mailand <kmailand@ligo.caltech.edu>

 

  • I'm  using the latest information from Ian and working on a lower quad installation arm concept, and a simpler part that may be used at the LASTI site. I spoke with Jay Heefner re. the control work required to use the linear drive lift mechanism we have from Oddvars table design.

Core Optics

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

 

Advanced LIGO Coatings - CSIRO Report

 

  • CSIRO made a three-sample run (thick, thin and small) of a Titania/Silica coating which contains more than 60% silica in Titania. They will be determining a more accurate figure soon. The refractive index of this mixture is 1.9, whereas the last TiO-SiO samples we received were ~2.15 (basically the same as tantala). They deposited 30 x 1/4 wave layers of this mixture and silica and the parts are being annealed for 24 hours at 500C - The coatings all looked good before annealing (no bubbles,cracks etc), but it remains to be seen if they are OK after this anneal. If no problems are encountered, the parts will be shipped by the end of the week.
  • The next run will be a silica/tantala mixture of similar proportions to the above with the higher temperature anneal.
  • After these runs have been analyzed we can decide what to do from there.

Input Optics

>From: David Reitze <reitze@phys.ufl.edu>

 

AdvLIGO Stable Recycling Cavities (Guido Mueller)

 

Working with Finesse on alignment and modematching sensing for stable cavity configuration; so far, have run a simple cavity example and studied the various output modes from Finesse.   In addition, started reading TCS DRD and CDC documentation for the upcoming review.

 

High Power Beam Dump for Power Control (Muzammil Arain)

 

Looking into an alternate solution for the beam dump. The idea is to direct the beam into a glass chamber containing running water with an absorptive material in it (a few mM of india-ink in a few gallons of water). The light gets absorbed almost completely in the water and the heat is removed by circulating the water. The idea was tested at 40W and seems to be a good solution. However, the scatter from the fused silica windows that let the light in the chamber, the appropriate beam size, and degradation of the solution is still to be investigated. An analysis is planned out for comparing this method with the commercially available water-cooled beam dumps. In addition, started reading TCS DRD and CDC documentation for the upcoming review.

 

Modulation Stability (Wan Wu)

 

Have been able to successfully calibrate the intensity noise measurement using an AOM at 20 Hz and measuring the induced RIN both using a single NPRO and beating it with a second frequency shifted NRPO. The results agree with each other.  WOrking on implement a digital intensity stabilization servo to get to 10^-8 or so (and then the real experiment can begin!).

 

Mach Zehnder (Stacy Wise)

 

Working implement high power version.  New breadboard has been designed by Luke Williams; have received new smaller mirrors to push the gain up.  Also writing up requirements document for MZ noise in Advanced LIGO

 

Complex Modulation (Volker Quetschke, Jeremy Pigeon)

 

An REU student, Jeremy Pigeon, has joined the group and is setting up and AM/PM experiments.  Our goal is to reproduce the results that Qi--Ze Shu obtained for LIGO 1 but with higher sideband suppression for the unwanted cross products (by using a better frequency synthesizer).

 

LASTI Optics (Dave Reitze, Luke Williams)

 

We are re-examining and finalizing the specs for the LAST MC mirrors: blanks, substrates, coatings.

Pre-Stabilized Laser

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

 

  • Work has started on filling in the details of the PSL interfaces document.  The document aims to define various interfaces between the PSL, CDS, the facility, IO, etc.  The document is a work in progress.

Auxiliary Optics

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

LAYOUT

In process of converting Luke's IO layout into a ZEMAX model. The IFO rays are complete. I am adding the heating beams and the optical lever beams.

PO MIRROR & TEL

Met with Calum and Chris E. to establish the requirements for the PO mirror and ETM Telescope suspension and to develop a plan of approach for designing the suspensions. Chris is revising a SW model of the ETM telescope made by Ken M. and is determining weight and moments of inertia of the suspended telescope.

NSF Presentation

AOS Cost/Schedule and Technical presentation were delivered successfully at the NSF review at MIT.

 

>From: Chris Echols <cechols@ligo.caltech.edu>

LAYOUT

An initial Master layout for Advanced LIGO completed.  Includes HAMs and BSCs, as well as optical elements and solid representations of light beams.  Modelling of ghost beams and pickoff beams in-progress.  Identification and naming of all imported optical elements must be completed before vault check-in.

PO MIRROR & TEL

Met with Calum and Mike to establish the requirements for the PO mirror and ETM Telescope suspension and to develop a plan of approach for designing the suspensions.  An imported model of the ETM Telescope will be revised with material properties and proper names and checked into the vault.  Mass and moment of inertia information will then aid in the further development of its suspension mount.  The pickoff mirror concept model is to be revised as well.

 

For additional information about this report, contact S. Whitcomb or P. Lindquist