LIGO Weekly Report for Week Ending July 20, 2006

Past Weekly Reports

The LIGO Executive Committee Agenda for Monday, July 24, 2006 will be:

(Meeting time: 10:30 am Pacific Time)

1.      Announcements

2.      Comments on weekly report

3.      LSC Issures  (Saulson)

4.      LIGO Lab Operations

  • Administration (Lindquist)
  • Sites (Raab, Zucker, Shoemaker)
  • Commissioning (Fritschel)
  • Optics and Mechanics (Coyne)
  • Control and Data Systems (Bork)
  • Lab computing (Anderson)
  • Science Group (Lazzarini)

5.      Enhancements (Adhakari)

6.      Advanced LIGO (Shoemaker)

7.      Change Control Board/Technical review Board Session as needed

Special Items:

  • Annual Report
  • Lab input to LSC MOU review/planning process

Special Announcements:

 

Weekly Report Highlights

LSC Issues (Saulson)

At Syracuse University this week, a two-day Topical Conference on Teaching General Relativity to Undergraduates was held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers. The conference was supported in part by LIGO-Caltech and by the Center for Gravitational Wave Physics at Penn State. Speakers included Jorge Pullin (LSU), Rai Weiss (LIGO MIT) and Peter Saulson (Syracuse), with key participation also by Michelle Larson (PSU) and John Thacker (LLO).

LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

STATUS OF LSC MOUs (Lloyd)

  • No report.

SITE TELECONFERENCE (Lindquist)

  • A site teleconference was scheduled for Thursday, May 18, 2006.  The following items were among those discussed:
  • Budgetary Issues – we still have not heard from the Office of Sponsored Research concerning the additional funding received from the NSF for materials to support the use of the video, Einstein’s Messengers.  F. Kaufman is to follow up with OSR.
  • Status of Livingston Science Education Center Construction – still reporting ahead of schedule and on track for completion early in September.  M. Zucker is close to approving a draft of the invitation list for the opening ceremony in November and has begun lining up keynote speakers.  The media team is working with Jill Perry and the corresponding office at MIT.
  • There are currently no open action items.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (Luna)

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

  • Provided assistance to the Soft Seismic Group (R. DeSalvo) with shipping and the preparation of a Commercial Invoice for US Customs clearance of one digital scale, two transformers, six speakers, one coil, three accelerometers, one controller, one box of shock indicators, and other miscellaneous items to GALLI & MORELLI in Italy.  Account Number LIGO.HSAS-1-NSFLIGO.FY02CA.
  • Provided assistance to Christian Cepeda in shipping a package to Dell.
  • Provided assistance to Mark Barton with the packing and shipping of the old earthquake stop test equipment to MIT, Account Number LIGO.PRLAS- 5.16-NSFLIGO.FY02CA.
  • Created property records for the Data Logger at Hanford.

DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner, Mak)

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

  • No report.

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

  • Continued to assist in the process of conversion of current data to the new database.
  • Processed PAC meeting presentations.
  • Processing MOU's and preparing them for posting.
  • Scanning - Progress continues on scanning of contract closeout files.
  • Activity:

Week Ending

07/24/2006

In

Out

Packages

26

3

Faxes

23

21

 

FINANCIAL SYSTEMS (Cronin, Brambila, Kaufman)

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

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

  • Submitted the Ares change order to the vendor.
  • Submitted the Galli and Morelli change order for the purchase of the spectrophotometer to the vendor, and received the acknowledgement from Galli and Morelli.  Working on change order 3 issued to Galli and Morelli.
  • Placed the order for the data cartridges for Livingston.
  • Working on the order for the purchase of the custom gate valves for Livingston.

>From: Florence Kaufman <fkaufman>

  • Worked on finalizing the proposed change request for adjustment to budgets for labor.
  • Met with NSF auditor Joyce N. Werking and Saleem ? about labor audit.  Also present at the meeting were Tracey Fraser and Phil Lindquist.  Provided the NSF auditor with a sample of the Excel worksheet I prepare on a monthly basis to monitor Labor charges to the LIGO Operations Award.
  • Discovered that the ETF to DEMCO was classified as expenditure type "Utilities" instead of Subcontracts-Over 25K".  Notified Accounts Payable about the error and was assured that correction would be made.
  • Determined with Gina Salone that payment to Cangelosi Ward that should have been charged to LIGO.LIV/3.12 was charged in error to the Outreach Award - in spite of the fact that the invoice clearly indicated the correct POETA.  Notified Teresa Ponce in Caltech's Accounts Payable department and a correction is to be made.
  • Financial reports can be found at: http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport. (For passwords contact Florence)

SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Jasnow, Salone)

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

  • Nothing significant to report.

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

  • No report (vacation).

PROPOSALS and REPORTS (Lindquist)

Annual Report for the NSF for LIGO Operations – a number of edits have been provided.  Waiting for the MIT numbers.  Then we will load it into FastLane.  The report is due to be sent to the NSF August 1.

CHANGE CONTROL/CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT (Lindquist)

  • Change Request CR-060007 adjusts the FY 2006 budgets to reflect actual staffing through June 30, 2006.

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

No report.

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

No report.

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

L1 in S5 (Frolov)

This week's 74% duty cycle was lower than our goal of 85% due to diagnostics on the SPOB detection chain and also due to increased levels of earthquake and micro seismic activity in the last two days.

A storm also lead to a temporary decrease of binary inspiral range from 14 Mpc most of the week to highly variable 9-12 Mpc.

The nonlinear behavior seen in the SPOB signal was tracked down to a malfunctioning Pentek ADC. After the ADC board was replaced, interferometer running was restored with lock acquisition parameters and interferometer scripts in the nominal state.

Other work included diagnosing a slowly growing 20 Hz oscillation in one of the ITMX HEPI loops that lead to geophone saturations reported during previous week. The loop transfer function was modified to avoid the instability.

Humongous Educational Kinetic Art Installation (Romie)

In competetive procurement.

LLO Outreach (Thacker)

  • Planned and delivered outreach program for East Baton Rouge and Iberville Parishes high school MSP teacher professional development program.
  • Oganized materials, updated pamphlets and posters, created two photo collage posters for the ST. Tammany Parish NETT conference.
  • Opening Event: updated invitation list; prepared draft Save the Date announcement.
  • Thacker is attending AAPT summer meeting.

L1 CDS (Bogue)

  • Worked with ldas on the fb0 disk upgrade.
  • Worked with ldas to plan the fb1 disk upgrade.
  • Helped Valery and Andri with replacing a pentek on lscl0.  This required a reboot of the front ends.
  • Fixed a small but annoying problem with medm screens randomly changing order on the london home page.
  • Looking into ways to improve our medm snapshot process.

LIGO Computing and Network Security (Roddy)

  • Spent a number of hours troubleshooting an LDAS email issue.  Several problems were combined causing hundreds of bounced emails.
  • Working on a test ZFS installation for Solaris 10 x86, mostly as a result of the need for storage on GC.  3ware cards definitely do not work.  I have an LSI logic SATA card to try.  Started installing today.   If things go well, I may replace home directories using this machine.  I can get about 8 TB out of it.
  • Working on security docs and assessment.  Will probably work from home on this for a day or two.  Can't seem to stay focused on this with interruptions at the office.
  • Working with RuthAnne at Caltech on a couple of security items, mostly as a result of some OSG compromises and also some of the Nessus results.
  • Testing some VPN solutions in VMware.  Investigating these as a result of discussions in a recent conference call concerning critical systems.
  • Installed the replacement for decatur in the GC racks.  Special UPS needed.  Unfortunately our receptacle is a NEMA L6-30 and we need an L6-20.  Bernie may be able to adapt this for me.
  • Finally got copies of the commercial tripwire software from Caltech.  Placed these in our software repository.  Will have to finish licensing them, then install and set up on all solaris hosts and linux servers.  It comes with the management package also, so that will be new.  Will have to learn the interface and set up all tripwire installs to be clients of the console.
  • Ordered a laptop for Harry.
  • Spent a bit of time taking care of a compromised Pcard issue.
  • Spent a bit of time making reservations, airline tickets, travel to Hanford, etc.
  • Did a bit of network probing as a result of some of the Nessus scans.
  • Made some LHO and LLO firewall changes, all related to CDS.

General computing and LDAS Administration (Giardina)

  • ran Windows updates and Norton Updates on SU's lab PC
  • auditorium projectors weren't functioning as expected last Friday.  Changed a few settings and all was OK
  • setup PC for temp office administrator, had to install a hub in Bonnie's office for this.
  • PC setup for student
  • plotter cartridge problems, out of ink and alignment, works fine now
  • unleashed a flood of bounced emails from one of the LDAS nodes.  more details in my LDAS weekly.
  • received a new laptop for Harry, have yet to complete setup
  • assisted Shannon with installing a new UPS and Sun 490 in Computer Users Room
  • created some new rules for our spam filter
  • other usual user requests and support

-         ejected tapes for shipment to CIT, imported and labeled new

-         ejected tapes for shelf storage, imported and labeled new

-         swapped network cable at our work area in the LDAS room, still no connection.  Appears to have been a bad port on our switch as it works plugged into a different port.

-         some nodes are still becoming frozen. they only respond to ping, local console is frozen.  Rebooting brings them back to life.  I replaced hda in one of them (node6), and it has run fine since.  Node43 became frozen and would not reboot.  Process of elimination yielded one bad memory card.  Replaced and node is running fine.

-         more changes/additions to cluster_mon

-         helped Igor move the new 3511 to MSR, installed in rack.

-         restarted archiverd for Dan's configuration changes.

-         installed a temperature/humidity/airflow/smoke alarm in LDAS room.  Still adjusting settings and working on adding monitors  to cluster_mon

-         sendmail had been configured NOT to start at system boot on our nodes.  Thus when the nodes were powered up after the HVAC problems (I think the first power cycle since reconfiguration was at this point), sendmail service was down.  With sendmail down, mail queues on the nodes were getting large (40-50K messages, mostly due to a few lines of code in one of my scripts that I had in place while troubleshooting some problems and forgot to remove).  I was on node2 when I realized sendmail was down, and restarted the service before clearing the queue.  Several hundred messages made it through before I stopped sendmail on the node.  I then cleared the queue.  The messages that made it through were bouncing back and forth between mail servers due to various errors, thus causing a flood of "spam" emails to system administrators at both LLO and CIT.  It appears that the situation has finally been resolved (crossing fingers) with Shannon and Larry's help.  I have cleared mailqueues on all LDAS nodes, set sendmail to start run-level 3, and  restarted sendmail service.  A few tests have shown this as being back in working order.  I must remember to complete these steps on the few nodes that are currently frozen.

Data analysis (Yakushin)

Storage/Condor/LDAS admin:

  • Running rsync from /frames to the new 9.1T file system which will replace /frames next Tuesday. It was decided at the S5 run coordination meeting that the final rsync would be required only for raw minute trend data (4 hours downtime for fb1 according to the recent experience with fb0). I would still like to understand how much extra time would be required for the final rsync of everything. Once the initial rsync is finished I shall run tests to find that out.
  • Installing Solaris 10 update 2 on the old dataserver to use it as a test machine for LSCsegFind server.
  • Shannon and Dwayne are working on installing the monitor of temperature, smoke, power and air flow in the LDAS room and the corresponding software for operators to monitor those parameters and receive alarms in the control room. The monitor also has an internal web server so that one can observe those parameters on the web as well.
  • Two tape drives got stuck tapes and I had to remove them from there manually.
  • fb0 was successfully upgraded during this Tuesday's maintenance period to double its file system.

Data Analysis

1) Published all the production and simulation triggers on early S5 (up to April 3) obtained with the incoherent version of waveburst on h(t)

http://ldas-jobs.ligo-la.caltech.edu/~igor/TRIGGERS/S5

There were several problems: the list of injections produced by Keith is no longer sorted by time and might have duplicate entries which confused my scripts before I realized what's going on; about 500 WBN2_S5_A frames are missing (either they were not produced or Keith did not include them in his list of available frames); once those frames are found, we might have to correct the simulation results on WBN2_S5_A although the effect is expected to be negligible.  Since in S4 we used exactly the same set of waveforms, one can get a preliminary estimate how more sensitive we are in S5: 1.5-2 times.

2) Processing the same data with the coherent version of waveburst.

Mechanical and Optical Systems (Coyne)

No report (vacation).

Controls and Data Systems (Bork)

LIGO

We need time on LHO H1 next Tuesday to debug code timing problems (code runs slower if optlev servos turned off). A fix must be found in order for PEPI to run.

40m

B. Abbotts input:

  • The new QPD Whitening board is in the back shop awaiting stuffing.
  • The DCPD that seemed a little noisy last week was tested further, and it now appears to have an input referred noise of 6nV/rtHz.  I might be able to lower this a tiny bit more by changing the 1st OpAmp to an OP27.  I'm looking into this now.
  • Bob put the ceramic resistors that I plan on using for the in-vac photodiode into an RGA scan.  He was surprised at how well they passed the scan, and it is his opinion that they are compatible with our vacuum system.
  • I have a little more machining to do on the DCPD mount to make a place for the resistors to be mounted, and to lower the possibility of capacitive coupling of the head to the base.  This should be done by tomorrow.
  • I have begun to figure out what needs to be done to install the new Mode Cleaner in the 40m.  It looks like it will be a simple cross-connect wiring and database change.  I will give Bob the cross connect wiring list so that the changes can be made on Monday.

OMC Work (Rolf)

I got some code from M. Evans for fast generation of sine waves (required for the dithering frequencies in the OMC controls). I added an oscillator part to my simuLink library and the provided code into my simuLink to CDS C code generator. I was then able to generate and run the OMC controls software from this simuLink file.  The oscillators seem to run fine (5 oscillators w/sin and cos outputs) and require very little CPU time.

AdvLigo

  • See below.

40-Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)

IFO Commissioning

  • David and Osamu have recalibrated the ETMs and ITMs (in nm/count) using the michelson for the ITMs and arm lock for the ETMs. They get numbers in good agreement with the ones measured by Osamu back in February.
  • David and Osamu are working on measuring the coil driver noise with and without dewhitening (for the noise budget), and the dewhitening board transfer function (to get the digital compensation right).
  • Monica repeated her measurement of the ratio of the ITM/ETM transfer functions, which is useful for analyzing the noise spectrum.
  • Monica continues her WFS diagnostic tool development.

IFO Modeling

  • Jenne and Rana are developing a simulink model of the angular control / instability in the mode cleaner.
  • Royal measured the oplev laser intensity fluctuations to be ~10^-6. She's calculating how that translates into P/Y measurement fluctuations, thence to the resulting power jitter at the AP, and finally, the effect on the DARM signal.
  • Osamu continues his e2e simulation of the alignment instability in AdLIGO with the quad suspension. He found a problem with the PSD module in e2e, and Hiro is working on it.
  • Monica prepared a LIGO-TN on her measurement of the test mass velocity, and comparison with e2e predictions.

DC Detection and Vacuum Squeezing Development

  • Darcy measured the transmission through the OMC to be 60%, due to anomalous loss/clipping at the small curved PZT-mounted mirror. Darcy and Rob rotated the PZT mount to reduce the clipping, and now Darcy measures T = 95%, which is reasonable for a cavity with a finesse of 200. Darcy, Sam and Rob are now taking a complete set of measurements of the in-vac DC readout beamline in preparation for disassembly for clean/bake.
  • Bob is ready for clean/bake of the DC readout beamline in the next week.
  • One of our tip-tilt PZTs is broken and has been sent back to Piezo-Jena for repair. Rich is trying to get them to expedite the repair (since we wanted to install in the vacuum any day now), to no avail. So Sam is trying to contact Ken Franzen to see if he will ship us a spare, to tide us over.
  • Rich is preparing a quote for the Piezo-Jena electronics to drive our two in-vac tip-tilt steering mirrors, as a backup for the driver board he is designing. Rich is wondering what the output noise is on these drivers, so Rob will measure it on the system we have. Rich's quote includes a spare tip-tilt PZT, because these things are ultra-fragile.
  • Rana assembled a block diagram of the front end control software we'd like to see for the DC readout system, including OMC dither-locking and steering mirror dither locking. Rolf has prepared a simulink block diagram of the system. An outstanding question is how the DCPD signal will get into our main interferometer LSC system.
  • Rolf is designing digital demod software for dither locking, and is consulting with Matt about how he did it at Virgo.
  • Ben's new QPD Whitening board is in the back shop awaiting stuffing. So are Jay's AA and AI interface boards.
  • The DCPD that seemed a little noisy last week was tested further, and it now appears to have an input referred noise of 6nV/rtHz. Ben might be able to lower this a tiny bit more by changing the 1st OpAmp to an OP27. He's also looking at putting in a zener diode for protection of bias voltage.
  • Bob did an RGA scane of the ceramic resistors for the in-vac DCPDs. He was surprised at how well they passed the scan, and it is his opinion that they are compatible with our vacuum system.
  • Ben has a little more machining to do on the DCPD mount to make a place for the resistors to be mounted, and to lower the possibility of capacitive coupling of the head to the base. This should be done by tomorrow. He's also machining a in beam dump holder and getting some black glass for the beam dump.
  • Ben and Rich are working on the system drawings for the DC readout installation, including the rack drawing. It appears that almost all of the electronics can fit inside our small rack by the output optic chamber (dubbed 1X5); the big computer will sit on top, and the power supplies must be located elsewhere.
  • Ben is thinking about putting a whitening stage in the DCPD satellite box (as requested by Rana), and also putting in a front-panel spigot for the DCPD signals to get them into the existing LSC system (since it is not trivial to get the signals from the new PCIX-based control system into our old RFM network).
  • Sam and Rob are determining the invac cable lengths so that Bob can start making cables. The cables for the tip-tilt PZT mirror on the BS chamber will have to run across to the ITMX chamber; that 110" cable run might be made by Accuglass.
  • Alex installed a Myrinet network card in our framebuilder; that's how it will communicate with the new PCIX-based front end control computer for the DC readout.
  • Go and Shally have redesigned and built a new heater system for the SHG, and have addressed a mechanical instability. Then they aligned and mode-matched the pump beam into the SHG and did an oven temperature sweep (peak at 114degC). The SHG is now locked, and much more stable. Intensity fluctuations now down from 5% to 1%. The green beam is aligned into the OPO and they are now working on that.

Electronics, Controls, Computers

  • Bob has redone the RF cabling from the LSC RFPDs on the AP table (AP and REFL) to the LSC rack, with better connectors and strain relief. Steve has beeped them out, measured the losses, labelled them. Afterwards we had signals everywhere and could lock the interferometer. Rana is setting the double demod phases and gains. Next: redo the cabling on the PO and SPOB RFPDs, and at the RF distribution rack.
  • Sam and Jenne spent some time working on the input mode cleaner servo board, which convinced Sam that we should chuck it and replace it with a new version with the latest revs. We have this in hand, and now Ben is looking at wiring it up. It looks like it will be a simple cross-connect wiring and database change. Ben will give Bob the cross connect wiring list so that the changes can be made on Monday.
  • David and Sam continue to work on measuring, and stabilizing the temperature fluctuations at the optical spectrum analyzers.
  • Jenne continues to work on her AM laser system (for testing LSC RFPD response). She is ordering more optics.
  • Our DAQ system went down on Tuesday, Alex came and found a flaky RFM card in c1iovme. He rebooted just-about everything and it came back up; but we're keeping an eye on that flaky RFM card.

Lab Infrastructure, Bake lab

  • Bob has done vacum prep for a huge load of Accuglass cables for LASTI, and SS conflats from MIT. He's also building OSEMs for Gingin.

Thermal Noise Interferometer (Black)

Akira, Cacey, and Matt have installed the mirror with the ring dampers in the TNI. Suspension went smoothly, and alignment of one cavity (NAC) went quickly.  SAC had no flashes, however, so they had to implement our ab-initio alignment system.

Antonella started this week and is finishing up her initial calculations. Next week she will begin the electronics part of her project.

LASTI (Ottaway)

BSC Seismic Isolation Assembly and Test (From Ken Mason)

The redesigned shims and installation fixture modifications required for the softer blades have been received.  We installed the stage 1-2 blades on wednesday and they fit correctly with the tip flat . We will be installing the stage 0-1 springs on Friday.

An alignment and tuning procedure has been written for the testing which will be happening over the next couple of weeks.  Two procedures were written, one which places the softer springs and stages in their final designed position with less payload. A second procedure was written in which we tilt and shim the springs for the full payload.  The shims for this second test has been designed and ordered.

Controls Quadruple Pendulum Prototype (From Brett Shapiro)

Much of the work over the past month has been searching for the causes of displaced modes on certain degrees of freedom. A wire clamp in the main chain top mass was discovered to be the source of displaced roll modes when it was found to be jammed up against one of the blade springs. It was backed off just enough to clear so that the effect on the pendulum's alignment could be compensated for with other adjustments. The two lower pitch modes on both chains are higher than they are supposed to be, but are consistent with each other between the chains. The second one is about 36% too high, but interestingly it was only about 15% too high at caltech so something changed and changed the same way on both chains between here and there. Measurements that were taken on the quad during the last vent show that the wire break off points on the blade spring tips are likely hanging about 4mm too low. Also the spacing between the wires leaving the UI mass to the penultimate is greater at the bottom than the top. These numbers can explain much of the pitch mode displacement but not all of it. They also do not explain the change observed between here and caltech.

Other progress includes the installation of eddy current dampers on the reaction chain. Testing has begun with those. The electrostatic drive is also set up now but testing has not yet begun.

HAM SAS Modeling Effort

Cassie is generating the triple pendulum model in ideas that will interface with Dennis's HAM SAS Model.

CIT Science Group (Lazzarini)

Data Analysis

Brown:

  • Working with Diego on implementation of new spinning black hole templates.
  • Investigated Fisher matrix analysis for parameter accuracy of LIGO- EMRIs.
  • Worked with Drew on S5 BNS search.
  • Worked with Curt Cutler on LISA supermassive black hole mock data challenge.
  • Integrated Caltech/Cornell numerical relativity code into LDAS Condor pool and started running some simulations.
  • Attended OSG/LIGO working group face to face and provided input from inspiral group scientists.
  • Helped Stuart with some general Condor issues and provided feedback to PSU on their cluster.

Chatterji:

  • Continued preparing for low threshold Q Pipeline search of early S5 data.  Discussed details of search with Leo Stein, who will be helping with the search.
  • Continued working with Rubab Khan to develop and test clustering extensions to the Q Pipeline.
  • Participated in GrPhyN-LIGO meeting to discuss plans for performing coherent burst searches on the open science grid.

Shawhan:

  • Helped Alex Dietz update and debug segment-list code in LAL.
  • Examined veto safety studies done by Shantanu Desai, and found a relationship between glitches in auxiliary channels and LSC-MASTER overflows.
  • Performed a study of choosing optimal veto window durations for KleineWelle-based S5 vetoes posted by Erik Katsavounidis.

Sutton:

  • I've spent the past week on scimon shifts at S5, mostly hunting down glitches and lock losses.  Otherwise I've done a bit of debugging work on the xpipeline coherent analysis code.

Yakushin:

  • Published all the production and simulation triggers on early S5 (up to April 3) obtained with the incoherent version of waveburst on h (t) http://ldas-jobs.ligo-la.caltech.edu/~igor/TRIGGERS/S5 There were several problems: the list of injections produced by Keith is no longer sorted by time and might have duplicate entries which confused my scripts before I realized what's going on; about 500 WBN2_S5_A frames are missing (either they were not produced or Keith did not include them in his list of available frames); once those frames are found, we might have to correct the simulation results on WBN2_S5_A although the effect is expected to be negligible.  Since in S4 we used exactly the same set of waveforms, one can get a preliminary estimate how more sensitive we are in S5: 1.5-2 times.
  • 2) Processing the same data with the coherent version of waveburst.

Grid Research (Blackburn)

TCLGLOBUS

  • TclGlobus 1.3.0 is ready to be released. All known issues have been resolved and all unit tests have passed using Fedora Core 4 and LDG 4.0. Will tag cvs with 1.3.0 this week and prepare source tarball and RPMs for next week.
  • Almost completed web documentation containing all information regarding TclGlobus 1.3.0 release.
  • Closed out 7 problem reports on the grid job submission client.

GRID COMPUTING

  • Held a face-to-face meeting with the VDS developers from ISI this Thursday. Address issues encountered while using VDS to submit jobs onto the Open Science Grid and how to move forward on workflow planning so that LIGO job submissions onto grids are more streamlined.
  • Provided ISI/USC VDS engineer with information on interfacing with VORS web site and developer to support improved interface for vds-get-sites utility.
  • Provided ISI/USC VDS engineer with information on site_verify.pl script from VDT for enhancement to support testing of VDS install- ation during initial OSG installation.
  • Met with Kent Blackburn and VDS team in a face-to-face meeting of GriPhyN-LIGO.
  • Produced a demo version of HIPE with only three science segments from each observatory for demonstration to VDS team.
  • Worked with Michael Samidi and Kent Blackburn, to fix Problem Report bugs in the GUI and logic of the LIGO Work Flow Planner.
  • Determined that the VDS top level RLS schema needs to be updated to properly reflect correct names of the UWM and PSU RLS for gencdag planner  to move data from UWM or PSU repositories to OSG CEs.
  • Met with Junwei Cao to discuss areas LIGO involvement within the Open Science Grid activities that would most benefit from MIT involvement in the OSG.

Laboratory Information Technology (Anderson)

The LDAS development code base has run without error for one week on the LDAS-DEV system with the upgrade to version 8.4 of TCL. This is a level of stability not reached for several months and is a major step forward in preparing for the next release.

(Mary Lei)

  • cmonClient - fixed error of not finding variable timeleft when attempting to reboot an API.
  • cntlmonAPI -  pass callback to cmd::receive instead of using trace on the variable.
  • datacondAPI - macros: on errors, set ::$cid with return result and call reattach instead of counting on a trace on ::$cid to return to reattach
  • ligolwAPI - remove local copy of dataRecvReaper as we don't have a bgLoop to wake up finished threads.
  • metadataAPI - remove local copy of dataRecvReaper as we don't have a bgLoop to wake up finished threads. Removed code to delete trace on ::$cid as reattach is called explicitly. Removed extra logging previously added to provide more debug info.
  • eventmonAPI - remove local copy of dataRecvReaper as we don't have a bgLoop to wake up finished threads. Removed code to delete trace on ::$cid as reattach is called explicitly. Removed code to delete trace on job(product) as the trace is gone when the array is unset.
  • managerAPI - pass callback to cmd::receive instead of using trace on the variable. Fixing a bgerror when a job is aborted and cmd::receive eval of the callback in an after cmd results in a bgerror when the assistant manager for the job gets deleted.
  • genericAPI - use setTIDCallback call dataRecv thread reaper instead of using a trace on tid variable.   In cmd::receive, accept callback as new arg to eval the callback after setting the global variable with the data read in from socket instead of counting on trace. In LDASgwrap operator and emergency procs pass callback to cmd::receive instead of using trace on the variable.  Removed trace on ::$cid for calling reattach to return job response to manager. This trace is not really in use as APIs tend to call reattach explicitly to be more reliable.
  • Testing: performed system test for ldas 1.8.242. lsync test still does not match up with diskcache cache. Other tests results were consistent.
  • Other - ran parallel testing with tcl 8.3.5 on ldas-test running build 1.8.242 and toolsets mirrored from dev. Renewed my DOE certificate.

LDAS System Administration (Anderson)

Caltech

(Dan Kozak)

  • Finished testing to determine optimal stripe size for new 3511 based /frames at LLO (32K).
  • Did prep for and then executed samgrowfs of LLO /fb0_frames (now ~10TB).
  • Deleted (in a controlled fashion) 5+ million files that Rejean said could be deleted. /home dump times have not improved...
  • Generated lists of tapes for shelf storage at both observatories.
  • Configured /newframes at LLO.
  • Helped with a couple of stuck tapes at LLO.
  • Working on dodump mods to collect stats about the files in each dump (ongoing).
  • Set up /archive/frames/ligovirgo to archive to tape.  Cleaned up archiver.cmd while I was at it.
  • Modified archiver.cmd at the observatories to use "scandirs" for /home like we've been doing here at CIT for a while.

(Phil Ehrens)

  • Installed Solaris 10 Upgrade 2 via upgrade path on machines sunopteron and ldas-sundev1. The upgrades on these machines proceeded uneventfully. However, attempting to install via upgrade path on ldas-suntest3 has resulted in several problems. A known problem with upgrading to a root filesystem on a metadevice was overcome via the documented workaround, but an additional problem seemingly to do with insufficient disk space on the root device followed. I am continuing to pursue this task.
  • Added excessive load test to log_mon.tcl to detect high loads associated with automount failures. Initial trigger level is set to 10, since Erik Espinoza said that it was unusual for loads to be above 5.
  • Re-factored log_mon.tcl and shasumcheck.tcl to remove difficult to maintain ad-hoc glob and descend lists.
  • Added direct email capability to shasumcheck.tcl and certcheck.tcl so that they may be used independently of log_mon.tcl. Shasumcheck is a lightweight replacement for tripwire that can be run at very high scanning frequency without abusing system resources.
  • Attempted to setup 24" Dell monitor on my workstation but found several problems. The clock speed of the onboard i915 video chip is insufficient to drive the monitor at it's native resolution of 1900x1200.  Additionally, the video BIOS reports that the requested clock frequency for all 16:9 modes is 100000MHz.  I have ordered a half-height pc-express video card and a short slot key to support the monitor. I will advise Larry Wallace when I have determined the hardware and software configuration required to support this monitor on the Dell small form-factor Optiplex G280 machines.
  • Various and sundry grid user support tasks.

(Erik Espinoza)

  • Scheduled Telecon w/ ASA & Supermicro.
  • Contacted AMD at the request of Sean (ASA) for support.
  • RMA to ASA - 16 pieces of ram, 5 hard disks.
  • Restarted condor on ldas-grid after user inadvertently killed all daemons.
  • Statistical analysis of MCE's on our cluster.
  • Configured node301 - node308 for Duncan to run tests.
  • Set the symlinks on ldas-pcdev1 and ldas-pcdev2 for the condor_config.local.
  • Node Status

  7/17 Mon - node33 (system overloaded via nfs, rebooted), node54 & node193 (replaced disk)

  7/19 Wed - node133 (crash)

  7/20 Thurs - node143 - (crash), node133 (crash - Replaced Memory)

(Stuart Anderson)

  • Working on adding parallel universe support to the condor configuration on the LDAS-CIT cluster.
  • Working with the Condor team to track down a recent set of crashes in the condor scheduler (condor_schedd) which also uncovered several other condor bugs.
  • Continuing to resynchronize the S5 h(t) version 2 files from CIT to the Observatories.
  • Distributed the LIGO VIRGO 2A 3hr data set to a canonical location on the LHO/LLO/CIT clusters.
  • Solved a long standing performance problem with the E2E code running on FC4 by using LD_PRELOAD to load an older version of libm.

Livingston

(Igor Yakushin)

  • Running rsync from /frames to the new 9.1T file system which will replace /frames next Tuesday. It was decided at the S5 run coordination meeting that the final rsync would be required only for raw minute trend data (4 hours downtime for fb1 according to the recent experience with fb0). I would still like to understand how much extra time would be required for the final rsync of everything. Once the initial rsync is finished I shall run tests to find that out.
  • Installing Solaris 10 update 2 on the old dataserver to use it as a test machine for LSCsegFind server.
  • Shannon and Dwayne are working on installing the monitor of temperature, smoke, power and air flow in the LDAS room and the corresponding software for operators to monitor those parameters and receive alarms in the control room. The monitor also has an internal web server so that one can observe those parameters on the web as well.
  • Two tape drives got stuck tapes and I had to remove them from there manually.
  • fb0 was successfully upgraded during this Tuesday's maintenance period to double its file system.

(Dwayne Giardina)

  • Ejected tapes for shipment to CIT, imported and labeled new
  • Ejected tapes for shelf storage, imported and labeled new
  • Swapped network cable at our work area in the LDAS room, still no connection.  Appears to have been a bad port on our switch as it works plugged into a different port.
  • Some nodes are still becoming frozen. they only respond to ping, local console is frozen.  Rebooting brings them back to life.  I replaced hda in one of them (node6), and it has run fine since.   Node43 became frozen and would not reboot.  Process of elimination yielded one bad memory card.  Replaced and node is running fine.
  • More changes/additions to cluster_mon.
  • Helped Igor move the new 3511 to MSR, installed in rack.
  • Restarted archiverd for Dan's configuration changes.
  • Installed a temperature/humidity/airflow/smoke alarm in LDAS room.  Still adjusting settings and working on adding monitors to cluster_mon
  • sendmail had been configured NOT to start at system boot on our nodes.  Thus when the nodes were powered up after the HVAC problems (I think the first power cycle since reconfiguration was at this point), sendmail service was down.  With sendmail down, mail queues on the nodes were getting large (40-50K messages, mostly due to a few lines of code in one of my scripts that I had in place while troubleshooting some problems and forgot to remove).  I was on node2 when I realized sendmail was down, and restarted the service before clearing the queue.  Several hundred messages made it through before I stopped sendmail on the node.  I then cleared the queue.  The messages that made it through were bouncing back and forth between mail servers due to various errors, thus causing a flood of "spam" emails to system administrators at both LLO and CIT.  It appears that the situation has finally been resolved (crossing fingers) with Shannon and Larry's help.  I have cleared mailqueues on all LDAS nodes, set sendmail to start run-level 3, and  restarted sendmail service.  A few tests have shown this as being back in working order.  I must remember to complete these steps on the few nodes that are currently frozen.

Hanford

(Ben Johnson)

  • Installed firewall on ldas gateway machine. Still tweaking the rules, but much of everything works.
  • Ejected 61 tapes this week (includes 19 L0 tapes for the weekly shipment). There are only 8 free slots left in the first tape cabinet.  My guess is that the second cabinet will be used starting in the next 2-3 weeks.
  • Worked on healing some nodes which only had one working hard drive (therefore they couldn't be kickstarted).
  • Fixed a bug I created in glue 1.7 which prevented the --show-times query from working properly. It has now been fixed and LHO is running a server that supports this query. The client that supports this will be in glue 1.8.
  • Following up on CRC mismatch file from Tuesday evening.

General Computing (Wallace)

MIT:

(Keith)

Nothing to report

Livingston:

(Dwayne)

  • ran Windows updates and Norton Updates on SU's lab PC
  • auditorium projectors weren't functioning as expected last Friday.   Changed a few settings and all was OK
  • setup PC for temp office administrator, had to install a hub in Bonnie's office for this.
  • PC setup for student
  • plotter cartridge problems, out of ink and alignment, works fine now
  • unleashed a flood of bounced emails from one of the LDAS nodes.   more details in my LDAS weekly.
  • received a new laptop for Harry, have yet to complete setup
  • assisted Shannon with installing a new UPS and Sun 490 in Computer Users Room
  • created some new rules for our spam filter
  • other usual user requests and support

(Shannon)

  • Working on a test ZFS installation for Solaris 10 x86, mostly as a result of the need for storage on GC.  3ware cards definitely do not work.  I have an LSI logic SATA card to try.  Started installing today.  If things go well, I may replace home directories using this machine.  I can get about 8 TB out of it.
  • Working on security docs and assessment.  Will probably work from home on this for a day or two.  Can't seem to stay focused on this with interruptions at the office.
  • Working with RuthAnne at Caltech on a couple of security items, mostly as a result of some OSG compromises and also some of the Nessus results.
  • Testing some VPN solutions in VMware.  Investigating these as a result of discussions in a recent conference call concerning critical systems.
  • Installed the replacement for decatur in the GC racks.  Special UPS needed.  Unfortunately our receptacle is a NEMA L6-30 and we need an L6-20.  Bernie may be able to adapt this for me.
  • Finally got copies of the commercial tripwire software from Caltech.  Placed these in our software repository.  Will have to finish licensing them, then install and set up on all solaris hosts and linux servers.  It comes with the management package also, so that will be new.  Will have to learn the interface and set up all tripwire installs to be clients of the console.
  • Ordered a laptop for Harry.
  • Spent a bit of time taking care of a compromised Pcard issue.
  • Spent a bit of time making reservations, airline tickets, travel to Hanford, etc.
  • Did a bit of network probing as a result of some of the Nessus scans.
  • Made some LHO and LLO firewall changes, all related to CDS.
  • Spent a number of hours troubleshooting an LDAS e-mail issue.  Several problems were combined causing hundreds of bounced emails.

Hanford:

(Christine)

  • Setting up a GC Linux box for the Control Room.  This will be the first Linux NIS+ client on site.  There is not a lot of documentation on how to do this, so it is taking a while to get set up.
  • The Cisco engineer couldn't make it this week, he is now scheduled for the afternoon of the 26th.
  • Still working on the cybersecurity vulnerability assessment.
  • One computer flagged by the Nessus scan for running FTP servers on multiple ports, had been hacked.  The computer is being re-built.
  • The Sun Ultra 25s showed up.  Still setting up new computers.  When all the new computers are set up, all of the "community" computers will have been upgraded and some new computers added.
  • Other support for summer visitors.

CIT:

(Mike)

  • Worked a lot this week on our server room installing additional sun equipment in our server racks. Helped Larry trouble shoot our backup server, before we called Sun.
  • Loading Solaris 10 & 9 on a few workstations plus servers. These are on going projects.  Larry has been helping me out on the NIS+ configurations.
  • Continued work on Spam Filters.
  • This week there has been a lot of work on our mail servers.
  • Other continued misc. user support.

(Christian)

  • Mohana Mageswaran- Configured new workstation with the standard Ligo image and transferred all of Mohana's data and settings.
  • 40 Meter- Hard drive failure on laptop. Rebuilt new hard-drive with our standard Ligo image and transferred all of the settings and data back to new drive.
  • I did an inventory on printing supplies.
  • Irene Baldon- Upgraded Adobe acrobat professional from version 6.0 to 7.8 for Irene.
  • Worked on the Spam Filters with Mike and Larry.
  • Other misc.: Continued onsite software/phone support.

(Veronica)

  • LIGO:  Elba meeting website updates - posted about 60 talks.  PAC meeting updates, installed password protection for the talks webpage.  LIGO CIT/MIT websites updates.  Preparing a writeup on updates of the MOU pages for Dorothy.
  • LSC:  Updates of the database of papers under review.  Updates of the LSC-related mailing lists.
  • Project Science:  Installed a website for the next workshop.    Installed/troubleshot a backend database for online registration.

(Larry)

  • Went through a number of procurement items.  Worked out a couple of procurement issues with Gina.  Spent time working on the P-Card reconciliation. Also, helped a couple of others with theirs.  Getting quotes for a number of different pieces of equipment.
  • Assisted/Assisting the DCC with a number of items. Trying to keep the old system running while they are getting ready for the new system. Hopefully we will start the transition over to the new system in the near future.
  • Still dealing with the crashed backup server. The unit had multiple hardware problems. We've also discovered some incompatibility issues with the SUN UNIX keyboard. We are now starting to rebuild the system from scratch. We are taking this opportunity to get the OS updated and patched as well as install a newer version of the application.  We have a temporary backup system presently in place while we rebuild the original system.
  • Still assisting the SURF students and adding new accounts. This year we've had quite a few more coming in late which has been adding to the workload.
  • Working multiple documentation items. Including the vulnerability assessment.
  • Troubleshot a couple of the workstations and servers that Mike has been building.
  • Assisted a number of users with misc. items. It has been a busy week with a lot of little items.
  • Worked a number of e-mail issues here, mostly spam storms and some other minor issues. Assisted Livingston in working out some of their e-mail issues.

Mail statistics for July 13-19 2006

Mail Statistics

7/24/2006

Rejected Messages

40,048 (Actually this number is higher)

Virus Messages

1,595

Accepted Messages

27,577

Total Messages

67,625

Advanced LIGO and Supporting R&D (Shoemaker)

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

Modeling and Simulation (Hiro Yamamoto)

ASC/LSC design using simulation of Adv.LIGO arm with quad suspension (Osamu, Hiro)

We struggled to calculate noise spectrum of ASC for AdLIGO and found a bug in the control loop. After fixing this bug, the spectrum became reasonable. However PSD module on E2E has some discrepancy at high and low frequency of result. It is being fixed now. We are writing a technical report about ASC, and it will be open at beginning of the next week.

Mechanical system modeling for Adv.LIGO (Sany and SLU group)

To make our e2e modeling of LIGO I input mode cleaner more realistic, broadened the line width of the PSL beam. By this change, the laser beam going into the input mode cleaner (supposedly) has a FWHM of a few kHz. Preliminary test on the resultant MC box file shows that the frequency of the MC transmitted light fluctuates as the MC length varies due to seismic disturbance to the MC small optics? suspension point.  More analysis will be made.

Set up a unix machine on the campus of Southeastern Louisiana University (SLU), and downloaded alfi and e2e. SLU students can now work on e2e modeling on campus.

40m and Adv.Virgo simulation (Monica)

40mInLockState package : debugging of a e2e package to investigate the in-lock state of the 40m IFO.  AdVirgoFP package : the lock of the arm has been obtained decreasing the transmittivity of the end mirror of one order of magnitude (previous locking tests had the same transmissivity for the input and the end mirrors, i.e. 0.5%). The laser power used is 20W.

Static IFO Simulation (Hiro)

To close the orange peel issue, I calculated the loss due to random aberration noise to see if the code gives a consistent answer or not.  The cavity power with one mirror being distorted by a noise with given rms is calculated and the effective loss is calculated by using a formula loss = T(ITM) / 2 ( 1 - Power / Max Power with no loss ). loss = average +- standard deviation. The statistical variation of the loss is not gaussian, but std value gives an idea about the spread.

rms = 1 nm       (4 pi rms / lambda )^2 = 139 ppm,   loss = 106 +- 40ppm

rms = 0.5          (4 pi rms / lambda )^2 = 35 ppm,      loss = 30 +- 11 ppm

rms = 0.2          (4 pi rms / lambda )^2 =  5.6 ppm,   loss = 7.0 +- 2.2 ppm

To see the effect of outer side, another distribution is created by multiplying factor 2 (make noisier) in the region r > 9cm (outside region noisier) and the above results are affected less than 10%.  For the orange peel surface data, the rms in the central region was something like 0.13nm, so the result of 2ppm due to the orange peel seems to be reasonable. It may be off by 50%, while still the effect is smaller than the loss due to the surface noise of 0.2nm.

Seismic Isolation

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

BSC Seismic Isolation Assembly and Test

The redesigned shims and installation fixture modifications required for the softer blades have been recieved. We installed the stage 1-2 blades on wednesday and they fit correctly with the tip flat. We will be installing the stage 0-1 springs on friday.

An alignment and tuning procedure has been written for the testing which will be happening over the next couple of weeks. Two procedures were written, one which places the softer springs and stages in their final designed position with less payload. A second procedure was written in which we tilt and shim the springs for the full payload. The shims for this second test has been designed and ordered.

From: "Joseph A. Giaime" jgiaime@ligo.phys.lsu.edu

BSC SEI Status

  • Rich Mittleman had a productive conversation with Ken Smith (ASI) regarding Ken's envisioned plan for tuning the spring parameters.
  • Procedure to set spring base height/angle and blade-tip shims assumes that the blade tip will be level.
  • Blade stiffness disparity might be due to axial stress.  Non-linear FE models will probably be needed.  Dan DeBra recommends using actual measurements from strain gauges to do this study.
  • Plan is to iterate on the spring tuning to make the system diagonal with its current load (i.e., 15% low).
  • At the same time, Ken will study the issue of whether we need to redesign the blades to accommodate the full spec'd load.  We will assume that this is going to be OK, and we will order new shims, etc., to start the tuning process on the high load.
  • Both mechanics and noise performance have now been demonstrated and we are ready to replicate the L-4C and GS-13 cables.  We have modified the design so that the differential output has its own charge return wire.
  • All Accuglass cables have been received and sent to Bob Taylor for vacuum baking.
  • Ken is working to procure a replacement for the leaky electrical feedthrough conflat.

Stanford

  • Tarm continues to make seismometer parts; Brian observes that there are now lots of 'em.
  • Graham Allen part time on LIGO again, working on interferometric seismometer readout sensor.
  • Did we (i.e., Dennis) arrange to fund a test copy of the Birmingham interferometric OSEM?
  • Measurement underway of the L-4C noise using the Hua coherent noise subtraction method.  This test also qualifies the new L-4C readout boards that will be used in LASTI.
  • Stage 2 'witness' STS-2 unable to re-center properly.  This seismometer has been drilled with a vent hole for vacuum use and is currently operating at air.  Perhaps there is moisture buildup?

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

ISI (Ben)

  • I have the GS-13 and L4C wiring instructions put into the back shop.  I just received the boards that need stuffing, and I'll bring them back there also.
  • I machined some brackets for the back of Jay's Capacitive Position Sensor chassis.  The rest of it looks like it's coming along well

ISI (Rolf)

I spoke with Brian Lantz and Joe G. this week about setting up a meeting to get more requirements to finish up the design. I have tentatively set up a visit for Ben, Jay and myself with Brian at Stanford the week of Aug. 7.

HAM-SAS (Ben)

I have begun laying out one of the three interface boards for the HAM-SAS system.  It should go pretty fast, with the other two hot on their heels.

Electronics (Mohanna)

  • Finished the Adapter Board for the OSEMS to the new Satellite Amplifier. It has been sent to the fabrication. Due on Monday.
  • Ordered the boxes for the Adapter Board.
  • Working on the front/back panels for the OSEMS / Satellite Amplifier Adapter Box
  • Finishing up the adapter board for the IDC64 (old Sat Amp) to the DB50 (new Sat Amp) connectors used in the Satellite Amplifiers

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

HAM SAS advancement

Tecnoinox Weldments

The base structure weldments are finished.  The main honeycomb was warped by the pull of the welds in the honeycomb.  Most of the warping was corrected by stressing the honeycomb into shape and warming up each weld with a torch to release the stress.  The main honeycomb was constrained to the plate and welded.  After welding the honeycomb to the plate, we measured the planarity and found them within 3.5 mm (well below the 7 mm tolerance).

G&M  General Mechanics

Most parts ready for assembly, the last parts are expected to be finished today.  The hall that will contain the clean room has been painted, and the new white floor is being laid (>50% done).  The entire floor to be finished by the week end.  The walls of the clean room, and the wall isolating the ¼ of the hall that we will not use will go up on Monday.  The clean room filters arriving on Monday will go on shortly after.

We will start (partially) using the room next week, using the dirty section (grey floor) for the assembly gradually moving out from the small room.

Received 2 coil drivers from Virgo.  Customized LVDT drive board ready in 7-10 days.  Waiting for measurement tools from Caltech.

3 m oven, determined the insulator, updating the oven drawings for production by Tecnoinox.

All drawings updated to today, included cable routings and connectoring, according to Ben suggestions.

Michael Forte  simulations

We have finished modeling the LVDT, and the Coil Driver including their noise spectra. The ADC and DAC are correctly modeled but the ADC has only a guess for the noise (not measured) and the DAC does not have any. The Anti-Aliasing and Anti-Imaging will most likely introduce very little noise, so are not significant for now, but will be added later. A small delay was added to estimate the delay caused by the electronics used. With an assumption that the coil will produce 1N of force for 1V and have no noise, we can run the simulation.

The simulation provides a tool to test the response of different compensators to determine the best one. Once the compensator has been designed, the amount of noise injected by each device can be determined and minimized.

We are currently in the stages of designing a compensator to work correctly. The main tool for this is a matlab tool called 'sisotool' which allows you to plot the physical plant's transfer function, your compensator's transfer function, and their combined transfer function. When this is finished we can move on to determining the amount of force the coil will need to provide, whether and where we need amplifiers, and what the exact response is to a step, impulse, or noise at the base.

Suspension

From: Janeen Romie romie_j@ligo.caltech.edu

Reviewed the hybrid osem drawing redlines with Stuart on Monday. Participated in the OMC meeting yesterday. Working with Steve Penn and Gregg on their thermal noise experiment. Supporting the Glasgow folks on their penultimate mass drawings. Coordinating with Bob Taylor and Helena on getting a spare eddy current damper assembly to Brett at LASTI. Bob and Helena are also getting some small parts ready to get to Conor in Australia. Participating in the SUS PDR3 Committee meeting today.

Pre-Stabilized Laser

From: Peter King pking@ligo.caltech.edu

A small test circuit was fabricated to filter the output noise of a voltage reference.  This might come in handy for biasing a photodiode.

Boards were ordered for an interim-power photodetector.  I have also been looking into vacuum-compatible circuit board material that can handle a reasonably high heat load.

Whilst Benno was here for the PAC Meeting, we took the opportunity to discuss some interface issues with the PSL.  Each of us has a small list of "to-do" items.

Other Laboratory R&D

From: John Miller <miller_j@ligo.caltech.edu>

John

  • This week I have been able to produce and lock to the fundamental mesa mode. Currently I am working on increasing both the power in this mode and the stability of lock. I have also taken some preliminary tilt sensitivity measurements. Once lock is sufficiently robust, tilt measurements will be checked against those carried out previously and FFT simulations.

Michael Koyfman

  • This past week, I have researched the various systems used in the measurement of geometric anti-spring oscillations to gain a better understanding of the experiment to possibly later identify sources of discrepancies.  I have also been learning how to fit the graphs.

Michael Floyd

  • This week Marie, Michael, and I started taking tests at a raised temperature with the fan going. I also made a copper tube to drop balls on the second spring.

Yumei

  • Write the report about flex joint of leg.
  • Doing the simulation of the table of HAM-SAS, strange frequency emerged, want to find why.

Marie

  • This past week we turned on both the fan and heater inside of the room where the springs are.  We were concerned about the increased noise and random movement of the pendulum on the spring due to the fan, but it turned out to be less important than we had thought, but we still need to fit the graphs of displacement.  We finished taking measurements of one of the springs at 30 degrees and now we will take the same measurements with the maraging material.  We also did some cleaning in the lab, but we have a long way to go.

Livia

  • In this week, i started to work in the lab! John explained to me how to use all the equipment and how to operate the experiment. I'm now going to construct a voltage divider to be used in our tilt sensitivity measurements.

Antonella

  • This week I have been reading papers related to work at the TNI. I am presently studying Pound-Drever-Hall locking. I will start experimental work in the near future.

For additional information about this report, contact Stan Whitcomb or Phil Lindquist