There will be no LIGO Executive Committee meeting on Monday, February 18, 2008 due to the Presidents' Day holiday.
LSC
Issues (Reitze)
- The LSC Remote Participation Committee has been formed to investigate ways to enable better ways of allowing LSC members to participate remotely in LSC-Virgo meetings. Thus far, the group has met three times and plans are underway to survey the LSC and Virgo on what solutions would best serve the collaborations. Planning is also underway for enhancing the remote participation at the upcoming March meeting.
LIGO
Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)
STATUS OF LSC MOUs (Lloyd)
The table below shows the MOUs and their attachments that have been approved and signed off to date by both the LSC Spokesperson and the LIGO Laboratory Director.
| MOU |
Attachment |
| Andrews University |
DAT, OPS, Z |
| Carleton College |
DAT, OPS, OUT, Z |
| Embry-Riddle University |
DAT, OPT, SUS, Z |
| Eotvos University |
DAT, OPS, OUT, Z |
| Florida, University of |
ACF, DAT, LAS, OPS, OPT, OUT, SUS, Z |
| Goddard |
DAT, OPS, Z |
| Hobart and William Smith Colleges |
DAT, OPS, Z |
| Institute of Applied Physics |
OPT, OUT, Z |
| IUCAA |
DAT, Z |
| Louisiana Tech University |
DAT, OPS, OUT, Z |
| Loyola University |
DAT, OPS, Z |
| Maryland, University of |
ACF, DAT, OPS, Z |
| Montana State University |
DAT, Z |
| Northwestern University |
DAT, Z |
| Oregon, University of |
DAT, OPS, OUT, Z |
| Rochester, University of |
DAT, Z |
| Sannio-Benevento, University of |
DAT, OPT, Z |
| Southeastern Louisiana University |
ACF, DAT, OPS, Z |
| Stanford University |
ACF, DAT, LAS, OPS, OPT, OUT, SUS, Z |
| Texas-Austin, University of |
DAT, OPS, Z |
| Texas-Brownsville, University of |
DAT, OPS, OUT, Z |
| Washington State University |
DAT, OPS, Z |
- Only ACIGA is still under review.
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (Luna)
>From: Rod Luna <rluna@ligo.caltech.edu>
- Assisted Kyle Ryan in making shipping arrangements for a Fume Hood from CIT to LHO.
- Created property records for a file server at LLO for Igor Yakushin.
- Created property records for a file server at LHO for Greg Mendell.
- Continued writing exports and imports procedures.
- Tagged and created property records for four file servers at CIT for Stuart Anderson.
- Assisted Helena Armandula by screening the GSAXcess equipment database for a Vacuum Oven.
- Provided shipping documentation to justify tax exemptions for purchases on LHO and LLO accounts. (Finance State Tax Audit).
FINANCIAL SYSTEMS (Funaro, Brambila, Oracion)
>From: "Funaro, Catherine" <Catherine.Funaro@caltech.edu>
>From: "Brambila, Ruth" <Ruth.Brambila@caltech.edu>
- Completed the package for Triad and submitted for review.
- Completing the package for Southern Enterprises.
- CSIRO was returned and it will be distributed.
- Re-routed the QED subcontract.
- Closed out the JDS Uniphase contract.
>From: Karl Oracion <koracion@ligo.caltech.edu>
- Completed and posted FY2008 monthly operations report as of the end of January 2008 on the network.
- Sent out reports for Visitor's program, U.Wisconsin award, and 3 discretionary accounts.
- Coordinated and ensured completion of Payroll Distribution Confirmation reports for period 4/1/07 through 9/30/07.
- Continued testing various Discoverer worksheets.
- Financial reports can be found at: http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport. (For passwords contact Karl)
SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Jasnow, Salone)
>From: Gina Salone <gsalone@ligo.caltech.edu>
- A Request for Quotation (RFQ) is being prepared to solicit proposals to perform erosion control at LLO. Quotations will be due on February 22.
>From: Ed Jasnow <jasnow@ligo.caltech.edu>
- The signed contract for the Pathfinder optics polishing contract was submitted by Tinsley on Wednesday, February 13. The contract will be submitted for Caltech review and execution. A kickoff meeting with the contractor will be scheduled immediately after contract execution.
PROPOSALS and REPORTS (Lindquist)
- The end-of-January report for the NSF is due this week. A draft has been prepared and is being reviewed prior to being sent.
- The NSF provided a draft Cooperative Agreement and a draft of the Advanced LIGO Cooperative Support Agreement for review. We are preparing comments.
CHANGE CONTROL/CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT (Lindquist)
- There are no open change requests.
HUMAN RESOURCES (Akutagawa)
>From: Cindy Akutagawa <cindy@ligo.caltech.edu>
- A Staffing Committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 19.
Quality/Safety (Tyler)
No report.
LIGO
Hanford
Observatory (LHO) and Interferometer Operations (Raab)
Summary of activities at LIGO Hanford Observatory (compiled by M. Landry)
- The 4k IOO work was completed this week, including a power budget that showed the Faraday isolator transmission efficiency is 95%
- several alignments of 4k telescope, ITM, BS and RM mirrors were investigated (here, here, and here). The goal was to achieve an alignment that gave outputs from the ITMs and RM at the AS port, while maintaining good REFL and septum window spots. No ideal alignment was obtained (i.e. biases on the ITMs and RM are generally large and not all spots come out well-centered at the various ports), but we have exhausted what we can do in air, and are now ready to pump down the 4k vertex and have a look under vacuum
- all doors are back on and torqued; pumpdown will occur Fri 15th, just a few days beyond the eLIGO-scheduled date of Mon 11th
- the current alignment will be vetted in about two weeks, when we can open briefly for a look down the arms, to ensure beams hit the ETMs
- An alignment on the AS port of the 2k yielded locks in power-up mode. The old and to-be-updated S5 calibration claims an inspiral range of ~6 Mpc (early locks were down at ~3Mpc)
- progress on the diode room can be seen in these photos
Outreach (D. Ingram)
- LHO EOC Ingram visited GEAR UP schools in Manson, Bridgeport and Brewster WA between 2/6 and 2/8, bringing the LIGO Road Show to ~550 middle and high school students at these north-central WA locations
LIGO
Livingston Observatory (LLO) and Interferometer
Operations (Giaime)
-
Enhanced LIGO and VE work (Rusyl Wooley):
- Harry and I began the search for leaks in the corner station vacuum chambers. We first closed the 14" valves to isolate the four 2500l/s ion pumps and then opened the 10" valve to expose the turbo pump to the main volume. I hooked up the He leak detector as the backing pump for the main turbo and then isolated the QDP80 from the turbo pump. During this exercise PT624B began to rise along with the other gauges in the vertex. PT624B is attached to the beam tube on the Y arm downstream of the cryopump and GV4. GV4 has been soft closed since we vented the main volume several months ago. It was a matter of minutes before I recognized what appeared to be a problem and soft closed GV3. The gauge reading of PT624 immediately quit rising and slowly began to fall.
- We found what appears to be the gross leak in the vertex. The MDC all metal valve used to repress the main volume, located just east of HAM2 is the culprit.
- We bagged all the new conflats that were installed over the last few months and filled the bags with helium. We have found no problems with any of the new viewports.
- We also did a complete helium sweep of the corner station and found no other issues.
- Tomorrow, I plan to vent HAM6 and remove the 84” nozzle doors in preparation for the installation of HAM ISI. Once the doors are removed, I will leak check the three 10” ports on the septum plate again. They have not been checked since the beam dump and new viewport were installed.
Cleaning & Baking (Tom Evans):
- We have finished baking:
- OMC counterbalance masses
- SEI HAM trim masses and assorted screws
- We are currently baking:
- SEI HAM clamps, brackets, posts, and plates
- SUS OMC crossbars, plates, and bracket
Safety & Security (Rich Riesen):
- Found two trip hazards in the LVEA, provided cable protectors at scene (they were used).
- During my monthly SEC bldg. safety inspection, I had concerns about exhibits where liquids and electric equipment were being used in close proximity. GFCI adapters were ordered and will be installed before the exhibits are to used again.
- The battery terminals for the main guard gate controller were badly corroded and were cleaned. This has stopped the intermittent gate problems so far.
- Issued four staff access cards due being worn out or broken.
- Issued five visitor access cards.
- Necessary training is completed for Laser Operator access status for Tobin Fricke ( Valera's visitor.) He will be with us for approx. one year.
- Found no other site/laser safety concerns this period.
LLO Outreach (John Thacker):
- Scheduled teacher training for summer 2008.
- Prepared and mailed pre-visit packets to schools.
- Continued to work on activities for teacher Professional Development and students.
- Prepared and Delivered 3 school programs.
- Prepared and Delivered 1 teacher Professional Development program.
- Prepared program session for regional math teachers' conference.
- Ordered supplies and organized the classroom.
- Conducted routine exhibit maintenance.
- Continued work on Next Phase proposal.
LIGO computing and network security
(Roddy)
Reported under General
Computing, see below
General computing and LDAS admin
(Giardina)
Reported under General
Computing, see below
Reported under LDAS
System Administration, see below
Data analysis & computing
(Yakushin)
Storage/Condor/LDAS admin:
Reported under LDAS
System Administration, see below
Data analysis:
Reported under Data
Analysis activities, see below
Mechanical and Optical Systems (Coyne)
See Advanced
LIGO
Controls and Data Systems (Bork)
See Advanced
LIGO
40-Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)
- John and Sam are continuing development of auxiliary laser arm locking. They have light from the arms, exiting ETMY, coupled into a long fiber. They are setting up RF signals, EOMs, demodulators for PDH signals, etc. They estimate that such a system would have a shot noise sensitivity of a few 1e-15 m/rtHz with the undercoupled arm cavity.
- Rob has been working on dual-recycled FPMI locking. There were a variety of problems with double-demod signal handoffs not working well, so Rob is looking for more robust signals.
- Rob noticed that one of our suspension controller cpus (susvme2) is having bursts of "un-syncy lateness", potentially interfering with locking activities. This behaviour appears to be getting steadily worse. To be debugged.
- Rob is preparing a LIGO seminar for next Tuesday on "Thinking Beyond Advanced LIGO".
- Alberto has built a prototype RFAM amplifier, and is debugging it.
- Go's paper on injecting squeezed vacuum into the 40m has been accepted for publication in Nature Physics. The editors are hinting that they might put some relevant artwork on the front cover, so Go and colleagues are thinking of something appropriate.
- Sam has cloned our DC readout EPICS screens at LLO, eliciting comments about the color scheme.
- Joe is finishing up current GiGE camera code implementations. On Rana's urging, he is accelerating his develoment of a digital camera network for IFO diagnostics. He will start testing different camera models and building up a gigabit network infrastructure.
- Steve installed a new RGA head a few days ago and it seems to be working fine.
- Most of the heavy ground prep work for the new IST building is done; they will start pouring concrete for the foundation soon.
- A mag 5.1 EQ in Baja California tripped off all our suspension controllers this weekend.
Thermal Noise Interferometer (Black)
- Nothing significant to report this week.
LASTI (Mittleman)
BSC-ISI
- It looks like the quad-pendulum support structure and the ISI can live together happily. The structural resonances of the support structure do not present a major control problem for the ISI. So the SUS group can go forward with the purchase and construction of more structures.
- With a mostly complete set of system-ID on stage 2 completed we are going to move on to stage 1. We will start by installing stage 2 damping loops (for our first control filters) and then start driving the stage 1 actuators.
Noise Prototype Suspension
- Brett is continuing so work with the RAL group on the pitch hysteresis problem.
LASTI Vacuum System
- We have start preparing for the septum installation that will break LASTI into two separate vacuum systems.
CIT Science Group (Weinstein)
______________________
Pinkesh Patel:
- There is a segementation fault that I am encountering in my implementation of resampling. I have been learning how to use gdb for debugging to get to the bottom of this.
- Worked on writing up the proceedings for the GWDAW 12.
- Learned how to lock the interferometer, learned about the various scripts to tweak the alignment etc.
- Worked on the IO table Thin Film Polarizer mystery with Rick Savage. Essentially it involved taking some measurements on the Thin Film Polarizer in the lab.
- Preparing for a lecture that I am giving on Laplace Transforms and Control Systems to the Astrowatch group.
______________________
Gregory Mendell:
- I completed work with the CW group on checks of the sensitivity estimates, for an internal review of the Einstein@Home S4 paper.
______________________
Antony Searle:
______________________
Kipp Cannon:
- Continuing with SGR "flare" code and paper review.
- Prepared report on single-sign-on technologies and version control systems for authcomm.
- Completing final playground run of excess power galactic core search.
- Writing final upper limit script for excess power galactic core search.
______________________
Igor Yakushin:
______________________
Amber Stuver:
LIGO Research
- Worked on installing LIGO Data Grid in my office and getting all of the associated accounts and certificates. This is in preparation in working with the h(t) review.
- Looked further into the effect of polarization in the detection delay and SNR ratio investigation.
- Registered and made travel arrangements for the March L-V Meeting.
SEC Work
- Gave control room tours to ~110 students.
- Presented the gravity well exhibit to ~40 8th grade students.
______________________
Kent Blackburn for the Grid Computing R&D Group:
GRID APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT
- Attended LIGO-Pegasus F2F meeting.
- Post minutes of LIGO-Pegasus meeting on Wiki.
- Attended DASWG, OSG-USERS and OSG-INTEGRATION telecons.
- LIGO Application Activity on OSG.
- Troubleshooting TTU_ANTAUES (changes to Pegasus site catalogue required).
- Credential issue discovered on Caltech ITB: "Invalid CRL: The available CRL has expired", working with Kent to resolve.
- LIGO Application Activity on LDG.
- Made changes to ldg_submit_dax (Python script)
- add -t option
- change results dir, change submit dir
- Continued to learn Basic Python Programming.
OPEN SCIENCE GRID INTEGRATION TESTBED
- Discovered issue with CA certificates on the osg-itb-se host used to submit grid jobs. Updated certificates in the "usual" default location but this is apparently not the only location where certs are stored.
OPEN SCIENCE GRID MANAGEMENT
- Attended OSG Area Coordinators telecon.
- Held a OSG Resources Managers telecon to discuss plans for the upcoming OSG Council meeting and materials to report for project and resource management. Reviewed policies for sign-off on formal OSG agreements.
- Asked to review the contact names registered with the OSG and to make recommendations for a new contact position of VO Manager. Will need to discuss this with the CompComm.
- Interviewed a strong candidate for the OSG Grid Administrator position associated with the OSG Integration Testbed and OSG Validation Testbed activities. Have recommended that the LIGO Staffing committee consider approving his being made an offer.
- Attended joint LIGO, Pegasus, Condor & OSG two day workshop at USC-ISI to discuss a roadmap into the future for workflows and remote job submission management.
- Attended the US ATLAS and US CMS Review as an external reviewer at UC Irvine. Busy working on the report now.
______________________
Diego Fazi:
- Continuing the PTF analysis on 1 month of S5 playground data: found burst HW injections!
- Running the first PTF injection run.
- Working on improving the pylal plotting routines.
- Tracing back a possible bug in lalapps_thinca that affects time-slides.
______________________
Joseph Betzwieser:
Data Analysis
- Debugging a merged makefakedata and computeFstatistic_v2 code for doing injections in memory as opposed to writing out the SFTs to the hard disk.
40m
- Finishing up current GiGE camera code implementations.
- Searching for new camera models to test.
______________________
Anand Sengupta:
- Looking at the effects of band pass filtering the template for high mass search.
- e-thinca, trigscan code review.
- iHope party (compiling/building and running ihop dag).
- Helping Michele with plots for the analysis of 6th month's 2nd yr data.
Laboratory Computing (Anderson)
LDAS Software Systems (Maros)
- A new class of variables has been added to the LDASmanager.rsc file. The pattern of the variables is LAUNCH_<API>. If defined, the manager will use the application and option flags specified by the variable to start the API. This now allows the starting of monitoring tools such as Solaris' collect profiling program or valgrind for Linux. With this technique, the diskcacheAPI is being profiled.
- There was no system testing done this week due to issues with the migration to using ZFS.
- The week long testing on ldas-test with version 1.9.202 of LDAS resulted performed well. There were occasional errors of the "datacond no such symbol" type.
- Enhancements and corrections continue to be made to the new test report generation feature of the cmonClient. Log filtering for common errors and patterns now occurs. Also, the percentages for jobs passed, failed and rejected have been corrected.
- Work continues on integrating the datasock test into the System Test format. The multitude of scripts that were previously required is being consolidated into two files; datasockTest.tcl and datasockClientServer.tcl.
LDAS System Administration (Anderson)
Caltech
(Dan Kozak)
- Worked with down tape drive, still needs od-cit reboot to bring it back to life.
- Participated in Sun site survey for SL8500 installation.
- Ran fibres and a CAT6 cable for SL8500 installation.
- Moved /scratch & /export (dev) from T3 based filesystems to 3510s.
- Moved rack (with 3510s and FC switch) in PB.
- Lots more 6140 benchmarking/configuration.
- Fixed some damaged files for John Zweizig.
- Fixed stagerd problem for Shantanu.
- Replaced failed 3510 controller.
- Attached 6140s from sites to 10.10.x.x network.
- Got A5 RDS data moving to CIT via LDR, configured lag plot to show this data.
- Talked to Scott about tagging PFNs.
(Phil Ehrens)
- Began work abstracting common cgi code from MOU report website scripts. The original code required that bugs be fixed in triplicate or quadruplicate. The abstraction is being done with the intent of reducing the handling of bugs to single point fixes. This task is about 50% done at this time.
- The usual host and server certificate management duties.
- The usual cluster account management duties.
- Further work on organization of SysAdmin wiki resources and development of documentation and scripting specific to CentOS.
- NO cluster fans have failed in the last three weeks.
- NO cluster MCE errors were logged in the last week.
MIT
(Fred Donovan)
- Point yum to epel repository; install ok, need to check condor.
Livingston
(Igor Yakushin)
- Fixed a problem with GEO publishing: execute permissions from publishing scripts were removed couple months ago to prevent GEO publishing interfering with segment replication database work.
- On Valera's request archiving raw data from Feb 8 to Feb 10; used this as an opportunity to test our AstroWatch archiving scripts; found some problems: wrong permissions on CDS side (fixed by Lisa), there is also seems to be a problem with cronjob copying communication file to /frames/segments on fb1/fb0 which we have not looked at yet.
Hanford
(Greg Mendell)
- The script that finds conlog "UP" segments for astrowatch is up and running at LHO. I am working on migrating the LDAS user accounts at LHO to zfs filesystems.General Computing (Wallace)
MIT
(Fred)
- Set up server2003 vpn (access to algor license server from LLO).
- Rebuild enoki (xp altium license server -- bad disk).
- Upgraded ram to 2 solidworks machines (stephany,andy).
- Po laptop bundle (Filippo).
- Solidworks performance issues -- crashes, hangs (Andy): reinstall; graphics card issue?
- Ilog maintenance - <pre> </pre> format issue on ilogs prior to 5.16.
Livingston
(Dwayne)
Hanford
(Christine)
- Set up a couple more new laptops for users.
- Fixed an email inbox quarantine problem.
- Purchased a bunch of supplies for users.
- Helped a visitor with an imap problem.
- Worked with Larry and Mike to train them on how things are done at LHO and turn the job over to them.
Caltech
(Mike)
- Server room 18 B/A: Moved Ethernet connections over to a new gigabit switch. This involved a lot of clean up work re-routing a good part of Ethernet cables to tighten things up a little. This is an on going project.
- Worked with Christian on multiple "HDX 9004" Polycom setups. We have made progress on video, and now have the analog working which enables us to dial out through the polycom. Ran some tests with different users, locally and remotely. More testing is will be done in the near future.
- Christian and I tested some new audio equipment in E/B Lecture Hall. The in house speaker system works great, but when using the phone only the output works. The input is another story. More testing is needed to resolve this issue.
- Beckman Auditorium: Went over with Linda Turner to figure out what we needed for power regarding the upcoming LSC meeting. Electrical shop needed a count on outlets, they are providing temporary power. Larry and I have figured out what it's going to take to supply power for laptops according to the seating chart that was provided. We have also figured in power for the break out rooms as well. The wireless network is the next issue to resolve. There is a meeting coming up with IMSS on network coverage to accommodate all users attending the meeting.
- Rack mounted additional sun equipment in server rm:19 B/A.
- Looked into a issue with Alcor, for a offsite user in LLO.
- On site user support and other sysadmin tasks.
(Christian)
- Riccardo Desalvo - Configured loaner laptop for Riccardo to use on travel.
- Eric Gustafson - Installed Adobe Acrobat 8.
- Helena Armandula - Picked up old computers and monitors from Synchrotron to be surplus.
- Continued testing the Polycom system with Mike.
- Other misc.: Continued onsite software/phone support.
(Veronica)
- LSC: Ongoing support of the March meeting. Homepage redo. Misc web updates.
- LIGO: Website updates. User support (Bill Kells -- video/digital photo equipment and editing).
- CaJAGWR: Website updates /user support.
(Melody)
- LAAC: Wrote a mediawiki extension which would integrate the Apache user account management (htpasswd) into the MediaWiki login.
- DocDB: Started reading the docdb specs.
(Larry)
- -Been busy tracking down paperwork for P-card reconciliation. Ordered a number of new items for different people. Still have to place the computer orders.
- Working with a number of people on the logistics for the upcoming L-V meeting. Fortunately, Christian and Mike have been able to keep up with things while I have been away.
- Getting the remote conferencing to work for the meetings is still in the testing stages. We've been in contact with a number of groups looking for a good solution but so far no major break-thru.
- Working with Christine in getting items together to transition her work over to other people.
- Still running tests on different video conferencing tools.
- End user assistance. Most dealing with user environment setups on different machines.
Advanced LIGO and Supporting R&D (Shoemaker)
Advanced LIGO
Systems
Modeling and Simulation
From: Sanichiro Yoshida <syoshida@selu.edu>
Modeling and Simulation (Richard Williams and Sany Yoshida)
- We added a model of HEPI to our Advanced LIGO mode cleaner e2e model. The HEPI model is based on the FIR filter pointed pointed by Brian Lantz (the actual filter was created by Wengshen Hua, cf. SEI E-log entry Dec 16, 2003). The inclusion of the HEPI model brings down the computed HAM table top motion below the requirement. Previously the HAM table top displacement computed by our e2e Single stage HAM seismic isolation model was considerably higher than the requirement in the frequency range of f<5 Hz (an order of magnitude higher in f<0.3 Hz, a factor of 2 higher at f=0.5 Hz, approaching the requirement ~5 Hz). With the improved table top motion, the MC transmitted light's frequency noise associated with the MC length fluctuation due to seismic disturbance is reduced accordingly. It has been noted that the reduction in the MC length fluctuation due to the inclusion of the HEPI is not as large as the reduction in the HAM table top displacement in f<0.3 Hz. A possible reason for this observation is that due to the high floor correlation in this low frequency region, the differential motion of MC1 and MC3 (on HAM1) and MC2 (on HAM2), hence the MC cavity length fluctuation, is not affected by the inclusion of HEPI as much as the MC optic motion itself. (i.e., even before the improvement of the HAM table top motion with HEPI, the MC differential motion was relatively low in this lower frequency range due to the high floor correlation).
E2E Weekly Meeting
- Southeastern Louisiana University group reported on their progress on the e2e simulation of Advanced LIGO Mode Cleaner (as reported above).
E2E (Melody Araya, John Cortese)
- Researching and developing a Power Spectral Density (PSD) primitive for e2e. An issue that Hiro had with the existing Welch based PSD module in e2e is that spectral leakage issues cause incorrect PSD values in valleys between high power peaks. We are attempting to design an algorithm that allows better determination of the PSD values in these valleys than the existing e2e routine.
- Built and released E2E e2e-4.0.3.
- Assisted John with C++/modeler/ALFI questions.
- Assisted Sany and his students with Java/Unix questions.
Prestabilized
Laser
From: Peter King <pking@ligo.caltech.edu>
AdL PSL
- The DAQ hardware for the testing at the AEI is being put together.
Seismic Isolation
- Completing assembly of HAM ISI at LLO; floating stages.
- Installation assembly tested under load at manufacturer, all ok; in delivery to LLO.
- BSC/Quad resonance work on hold while Quad alignment difficulties are in study at LASTI and RAL.
Suspensions
From: Janeen Romie <janeen@ligo-la.caltech.edu>
HAM Suspensions for Advanced & Enhanced LIGO
- Output Mode Cleaner Suspension: Mike, Derek & Janeen, with the help of Rana and Tobin, and Calum Chris and Norna remotely, are working on the OMC suspension in preparation for installation at the end of the month. The aim this week is to get the metal bench hanging correctly and to install and test the OSEMs prior to Sam & Rich's arrival next week. We have been working on understanding the roll and pitch offsets of the OMC as compared to the pre-shipped condition. We found a kink in one of the clamp-wire-clamp assemblies to the metal bench and replaced it. After further investigation and discussion it was realised that the mating pieces between the lower end of the lower wire assembly and the bench are different for the metal bench and silica bench, and that the silica bench pieces were being used. When the correct pieces for the metal bench were swapped in the pitch and roll problems went away. OSEMs are now being installed so that Tobin can work on the controls with the metal bench.
- Recycling Mirror Suspension: Calum redesigned the recycling mirror top blades and their clamps, in preparation for procurement, to allow for one more clamping screw and more screw engagement. This change is due to the proposed changes for the quad blades.
- HAM Auxiliary Suspension: Janeen worked with Luke Williams yesterday to understand the implications of the change to a stable recycling cavity on the number and type of suspensions needed. She'll circulate a new chart this week. Derek is working on comparing the old "susres" suspension code parameters and results to a single pendulum Matlab code supplied by Norna & Calum.
- Facilities: Janeen has been working with Allen Sibley and the staging building architect on facilities modification requirements for Advanced LIGO production. We will be meeting every Monday morning for the next few weeks. Ken Mason is at LLO this week and is meeting with Allen and Janeen this morning on SEI real estate needs for storage, test, pre-assembly & assembly.
BSC Suspensions for Advanced LIGO
- Quad noise prototype: Work is ongoing on understanding the pitch alignment problem with the quad noise prototype at LASTI. Experiments have been carried out at RAL with the quad there and with the "marionette" (built prior to the quad to test some of the designs) and with a single stage pendulum. We are still digesting the results, but it is looking like both the design of the wire clamps at the (metal) test mass and the clamps at the blade roots may have been contributing to the effects seen at LASTI.
- BOSEMS: Stuart informed us that all PFA parts in the design of the BOSEMs have been replaced with peek, not just the adjustment nuts. This is good from vacuum standpoint as well as sturdiness of the nuts to repeated use. Norna and Stuart have agreed on a schedule for delivery of the remaining 31 noise prototype BOSEMs (these are intended for in the LHO OMC and tip-tilt mirrors, and for triple noise prototypes + spares).
- Beamplitter/folding mirror: RAL reported that parts for a prototype BS have been ordered.
- Vacseal bonding trip: Marielle and Liam (Glasgow) and Helena and Gerardo (LIGO) are at LASTI this week to bond prisms to the noise prototype silica penultimate mass and spare.
- Pulling and Welding Machine: Mark (Glasgow) is at LASTI this week for further work on preparing the machine.
Reviews
- Norna is chairing two upcoming reviews: Birmingham OSEM review (first meeting Friday 15th) and the magnet swap review on Feb 21st. A wiki page has been set up for the magnet swap review, linked from the ELIGO (called mLIGO) main wiki page. Janeen is serving on both review committees.
Core Optics
From: GariLynn Billingsley <Billingsley_G@ligo.caltech.edu>
- It has been decided that all optics in the stable recycling cavity will be fused silica. This is based on the assumption that we may not be able to get surface absorption in the vacuum system below 10ppm.
- Several witness plates have been measured that came out of Hanford. Some show no degradation, some show ~30ppm.
http://ilog.ligo-wa.caltech.edu:7285/advligo/COC_Scatter see first link under "Analysis and test of initial LIGO scatter".
- Cheryl has posted a survey of port-photodiode scatter measurements taken at Hanford.
- During the post S5 calibration period I photographed and collected PD data from the majority of the LHO optics. The PD data was collected through video, pcal, and illuminator viewports. The PD was mounted roughly 8 inches from the viewport, which coincides with the location of the camera body used to image the optic.
- Of the 19 measurements collected, three had the photon calibrator on, one was taken with a different PD, two were taken with the IFO power at 2W, the other 17 measurements were taken with the IFO at 1W, two did not have the beam blocked and unblocked, five have only the beam blocked and unblocked, and 11 have the beam blocked and unblocked and the IFO off. In the case of the 2K ITM/FM chambers there is scattered light from two optics.
- The spread sheet that has all of the details is is located at:
http://www.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/~cvorvick/LHO_PD_Survey/PostS5_PD_Survey.pdf
- A steering mirror taken from the IOO chain at Livingston shows ~30ppm absorption across the entire mirror (no beam footprint dependence) even after cleaning. Helena has taken a sticky sample and sent it off for analysis. There is no visible gunk. We will look into the history of the optic and see if there are spares from the same run that have not yet been in vacuum.
- Virgo will not be coating large substrates until June. We will have to re-think our qualification of large optics coating. We had been planning to review their results as a final indicator of the coating qualities obtainable on large optics.
Auxiliary Optics
ADLIGO
- IFO LAYOUT: Mike has revised the ZEMAX layout for the non-folded stable recycling cavity. The BS wedge was reduced to 0.8 deg with the thick side of the wedge in the +y direction in order to reduce the astigmatic beam size between the BS and ITMX. In order to accomodate the reversal in the BS wedge orientation, a 1.2 deg horizontal wedge was placed on the ITMs to shift the position of the BS on the BSC chamber to +y, +x direction. The ITM wedge moved the PRM3 to the +y side of HAM2, which required the MC to move to the -y side of HAM2. Similarly, in the output beam line, the ITMX PO beam shifted to the -x side of HAM5 and the output mode matching telescope shifted to the +x side of HAM5. The ITM ghost beams will be caught on suspended beam dumps in BSC2. Phil will investigate whether the TCS system can reduce the horizontal beam astigmatism in the recycling cavity by providing a compensating vertical astigmatic lens in the CP.
- ETM PO TELESCOPE SUS: Virginio has a design concept for a four wire ETM PO Telescope suspension. It will be damped by eddy currents using an off-resonance coupled pendulum hanging in proximity. Chris will make a conceptual layout in SW.
- SLC: Luke is finalyzing the preliminary design of the LASTI arm cavity baffle, which will be made of porcelainized steel. He has contacted several suppliers of enameling steel and will be getting samples for testing. West Coast Porcelain prefers to use pickle-free and oil free preparation before using their direct covercoat method of porcelainizing. Allen Sibley of LLO told Ken that the original shark's-tooth LIGO beam tube baffles were made of stainless steel, instead of enameling steel, which is the preferred base metal for porcelainized coatings. We will investigate the vacuum compatibility of enameling steel.
- PICO MOTORS: According to New Focus, either Krytox or Barrierta IS V must be used with the ultra-high vac Pico Motors to ensure proper operation. Unfortunately, the CIT test that vacuum qualified the Pico Motors had removed the lubricant and may have to be repeated, or the lubricants may have to be qualified seperately. The Barrierta 1S presumably has a lower vapor pressure than Krytox.
Input Optics
Stable Recycling Cavities (Guido, Luke, Muzammil)
- We had the Recycling Cavity workshop at UF last week. The outcome was a decision to go with stable recycling cavities.
- We compared BK7 vs. fused silica for the for the substrate material of the recycling cavity mirrors. The power recycling cavity will be fused silica. One consideration is the subsequent thermal lens on the surface of the mirror due to coating absorption while the other is the ease of installing adaptive compensation system on recycling cavity mirrors.
- We might still use BK7 in the signal recycling cavity (better thermal actuation capability and no deformation from the science beam).
- We started working on SPRC layout in Solid Works. This is right now on hold until a final Zemax layout arrives from Mike Smith, as large changes are still be made.
Alignment (Guido)
- Continue working on alignment sensing and control for the Conceptual Design Document.
eLIGO IO install (Kate, Antonio and Dave}
- At LLO, we measured the mode cleaner cavity pole to be 4500Hz.
- We are re-designing the layout of ISCT1 putting in the tip-tilt actuators and a new telescope, because the Refl beam paramters are changed on account of the new location of the Faraday isolator.
For additional
information about this report, contact Albert Lazzarini or Phil Lindquist