Weekly Report for Week Ending April 3, 2008

LSC	Administration	Hanford Observatory	Livingston Observatory
Optical & Mechanical	Controls and Data Systems	40 Meter Facility	TNI
LASTI	CIT Science Group	Laboratory Computing	Adv. LIGO Development

Past Weekly Reports

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LSC Issues (Reitze)

• The Executive Committee met this week to approve LSC presentations for the APS meeting.  A total of 25 talks will be given by LSC members, including 4 invited talks, and talks on S5 results and data analysis methods.
• Also at the meeting, the S4 pulsar Einstein@Home search paper was approved for submission.  The paper is intended for Phys. Rev. D and will be posted on gr-qc after a final comment period by the LSC.
• David Shoemaker is stepping down from the chair of the LSC remote participation committee. Nelson Christensen has agreed to serve as the new chair.  While this committee is only 3 months old, it has already done a great deal to improve the quality of the L-V meetings for those joining remotely.

LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

STATUS OF LSC MOUs (Lloyd)

MOU status remains as reported last reporting period (see below).

• 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.

• CEGG and Moscow University were approved and are now being routed for signatures.
• The University of Mississippi has been submitte for review.

DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner, Mak)

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

• Still processing presentations from the LSC-Virgo meeting (it's been a very long & tedious process).
• Processing talks from GWDAW 12 and PCGM.

FINANCIAL SYSTEMS (Funaro, Brambila, Oracion)

>From: "Funaro, Catherine" <Catherine.Funaro@caltech.edu>

• For ACCOUNTS PAYABLE HISTORY Press Here.

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

• Closed out the CSIRO contract 1082634.
• Closing out the Galli and Morelli contract 1006214.
• Re-routed the MIT package for approvals.
• Working on the no-cost extension to the University of Michigan.
• Working on the change order for the Exploratorium.

>From: Karl Oracion <koracion@ligo.caltech.edu>>

• Coordinated set-up of new Advanced LIGO POETA accounts with OSR and Project Accounting. 
• Started expenditure analysis, budget review and data entry for March 2008 monthly operations report.
• Financial reports can be found at: http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport. (For passwords contact Karl)

PROPOSALS and REPORTS (Lindquist)

• We refined an updated version of the budgets for LIGO Operations FY 2009-2013 to the NSF funding profile during the Executive Committee meeting on March 31.  Revised budgets are being prepared as well as a staffing plan to be coordinated with Advanced LIGO.
• The monthly report is due to be submitted to the NSF Tuesday, April 15, 2008.  I have requested contributions from the usual suspects by Friday, April 11, 2008.

HUMAN RESOURCES (Akutagawa)

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

• The next Staffing Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 14.
• A Staffing Committee meeting was held on Monday, March 10th.  The minutes and action items from the meeting have been posted on the SC web page.

Quality/Safety (Tyler)

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

• Last week completed additional Caltech campus LIGO safety audits.  A summary report with action items will be distributed next week.  Additional audits will need to be scheduled after completion of on-going lab relocations/modifications.
• NOTE: After 4 April 2008, the LIGO Safety Steering Committee will meet every other Thursday starting at 1300 PT.  The next meeting with the new day and time will be 17 April 2008.
• The LIGO Safety Steering Committee has adopted a recommendation for use of one type of dual wavelength (808nm and 1064nm) laser safety glasses.  The Committee has also requested that LIGO Observatories and other facilities establish and implement a visual inspection and once a year testing program for laser safety glasses to verify the effectiveness of their safety protection.

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

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

• ETMX optic processing continued this week. All new magnets have been glued, and the optic is under vacuum bake. The EX door will be pulled Friday for preliminary in-chamber work including vacuuming dust off the floor, baffle disassembly and removal, and scattering investigations. We expect the test mass to be returned to EX next Monday/Tuesday
• Timing delays were measured on both IFOs, finding a 2.5 sample delay in the DARM path. Additionally, an upper bound on the delay of RF AM on ASPD3 was found to be 4us.
• The impact of the new Faraday Isolator on the REFL WFS paths is described in a technical document here
• There is a full SEI report below, but, two items here: i) see the Tuesday ilog status, once the large plates had returned from LLO, and ii) to monitor progress in the East Bay cleanroom, check out the ISI webcam, which updates every 60s
• the Astrowatch science-mode duty cycle has been creeping up. The overall SM duty cycle since the start of the run is now at 37%, while the up-time is about 60%. In addition to graveyard shift duties, work this week included realignments of the TCS lasers, and a study of the beam pointing on the beamsplitter

HAM SEI/ISI (Stephany, Jody, Justin, Cyrus, Gerardo, Hugh, & Corey)

• On the SEI Support Structure front, found out that 1 (of 4) Bellows is "leaky". Kyle was able to localize the leak to the small conflat (the gasket for this one was really tough to work with). Plan is to re-install this Bellows next time we get a chance and leak-check it again.
• The ISI Assembly is in full swing. All three large plates arrived from LLO on Monday, and on Wednesday they were all in the LVEA receiving some sort of work on them. On Stage0 the Stiffener Assembly, and Support Posts have been installed; has been moved to the Test Stand; still have helicoiling to do on it. For the Optics Table, helicoiling has begun (1054 holes!). Stage1 is on the Assembly Stand; will begin helicoiling it and then dropping the Pitchforks & Boxworks on it today.
• Sensor Target Posts have not been located. Have taken measures to re-machine some--they won't be needed for a week or two. Most small parts which needed to be helicoiled are done. A webcam has been installed in our cleanroom to monitor progress.
• Our first ISI visitor Stephany Foley (MIT) arrived this week. The LVEA's East Bay has been converted to a "localized & isolated Laser Safe area".

Outreach (D. Ingram)

• LHO staff members who have provided recent outreach support include Daniel Sigg (IEEE tour, 3/7), Cheryl Vorvick (Expanding Your Horizons conference for young women, 3/22) and Anamaria Effler (Green River CC tour, 3/26).

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

Observatory Operations (Rusyl Wooley)

• This week we began installing the vacuum equipment on HAM6.  This should be complete next week.
• We started cleaning and inspection of the large nitrogen storage tanks.  So far we have not found any significant rust spots.
• Installed the new coax from the Mass Storage Room to the CDS high bay.  This will carry the IRIG-B signal to the new OMC and ISI front ends.
• Completed the installation of the cables for the new TCS.  We have not terminated any of the cable yet.
• With the exception of three items, our federal property inventory is complete.
• The new TCS chiller closets are complete.
• The new diode room in Short Term Storage is under construction.  All the walls, ceiling & doors are installed.  The contractor is in the process of taping and finishing all the sheet rock joints.
• HEPI maintenance is ongoing.  The fluid analysis is complete, We have received the new filters and reservoir caps.  The filter replacement will be done during the week of the 14th.  A final report will be issued after.
• Erosion control work continues on the back side of of the y arm.
• We have received new storage cabinets for the LVEA.  This is in an effort to get the LVEA cleaned up and make a more productive work area.
• We have received a proposal for the repair of the beam tube enclosure seals.  There are three options that I'm looking at.  We will conduct a test of each material on the x arm.  Each solution will be tested on two joints..one with a ~1/2" gap and one with ~1-1/2" gap.

Seismic Commissioning (Brian O'Reilly)

• Assembly and testing of GS-13 sensor pods for the HAM-ISI at LHO is in progress. We expect to finish building this week and to leak test the pods next week.
• Work on drainage on the back side of the Y-arm requires us to interrupt service to the seismic vault. This will occur in the next couple of weeks and the instruments will probably be offline for several weeks.

LLO Outreach (John Thacker)

• Developed 1 teacher workshop program, middle school.
• Presented 3 school programs: (1 Elem, 1 HS, 1 MS ).
• Conducted 1 Docent Training session;  11 attendees.
• Conducted one public tour.
• 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)

• DR Locking: John continues to work on aux laser arm locking and 3f locking, and gave the group a status talk on Wednesday.
• GigE network: Joe is refining his plan for a new GigE network for readout of the digital cameras.
• Suspension controller problems: The suspension controller continue to time out, requiring reboot. Rob swapped various things in the c1susvme2 crate. Finally he swapped the two Penteks with ones from the asc crate, and the problem seems to have been reduced dramatically.
• DC readout PDs: Jamie Rollins was visiting, and he made some measurements of the non-linearity of the response of some mock-up DC readout photodetectors, and compared with a simple model of non-linearity. The test PD was pretty linear, with non-linearity parameter beta < -1.
• Physical environment monitoring: Andrey resurrected the weather station readout into EPICS, which has been broken for years.
• Beam dump development: Steve continues to measure reflectivity of various candidate materials.
• Rana gave tours of the 40m lab to ~40 visiting grad school admits.
• Safety inspection: We had a safety inspection of the 40m and bake oven labs last Friday.

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Thermal Noise Interferometer (Black)

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LASTI (Mittleman)

• The controls prototype pendulum and the solid stack (optics table that supports it) have been removed from the BSC. The solid stack has been broken down, wrapped and is awaiting shipment to its new home where it will become part of the LIGO suspension construction tooling.

BSC-ISI

• Fabrice has solved last week’s stability problems, it was an inadvertent plant change that ended up changing the sign of one of the actuators. He has been struggling with various other real time computing issues this week.

Noise Prototype Quad

• Waiting to go into the BSC.

Fiber Pulling and Welding

• Improvements have been made to the bench-top welding tests. A new camera installed by Tim allows much better vision of the weld during heating, and it is now possible to really get the heat in the correct place. The labview control program can now be used to precisely place the beam. Tests were carried out using 1.5mm rod, and this coming week we will try thicker rod.
• Further tests on fiber pulling using 3mm rod were made, and this week we will make samples with a range of neck profiles to take to Glasgow for profiling. These profiles will then undergo FEA to be added in to a suspension noise model.

CIT Science Group (Weinstein)

_______________

Kipp Cannon:

• Reviewing SGR flare results for APS.
• Addressing CQG referee comments from submission of LIGO-P070085-00-Z.
• Telecons:  bursts, daswg, inspiral coding

_______________

Antony Searle:

• Continued worked on main Bayesian bursts paper.
• Worked on X+Q= Omega pipeline merger [https://geco.phys.columbia.edu/omega/].

_______________

Diego Fazi:

• Compared SPA and PTF templates efficiency in recovering spinning injections from real data.
• Started testing the PTF metric implemented in LAL by Yi Pan.
• Finished implementing a *real* distance in the PTF intrinsic parameter space as a standalone code.
• Tested the *kludge* distance implemented two weeks ago and compared it to the real distance in the PTF intrinsic parameter space.

_______________

Amber Stuver:

LIGO Research

• Continued working on h(t) review.  It appears that the fluctuations in the factors used in the production of h(t) are consistent with being caused by measurement noise.  The distributions of the FFT Re and Im parts as well as their magnitude are all what is expected from noise (Gaussian for Re and Im parts and Rayleigh for the magnitude).  Representative distributions can be viewed here: http://touro.ligo-la.caltech.edu/ %7Estuver/research/hoft/longfft/ffthist.html.

SEC Work

• Gave control room tours to ~125 students.

_______________

Drew Keppel:

• Producing the final triggers for the S5 1Yr Low Mass CBC Search.
• Working through the review of the S5 1Yr Low Mass CBC Search and my APS talk.
• Tagging code for use in the IFAR calculation.
• Documenting the IFAR calculation.

_______________

Gregory Mendell:

• The majority of my data analysis time for the past week has been spent reviewing talks for the upcoming APS meeting.

_______________

Kent Blackburn for the Grid R&D Team:

GRID APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

• Wrote agenda/ minutes for weekly LIGO-Pegasus telecon.
• Attend weekly LIGO-Pegasus, DASWG, OSG-USERS, OSG-INTEGRATION telecons.
• Renewed DOE user certificate.
• lalapps_ihope development to enable osg submissions of injection runs:
  • Attempt to run ihope original version on cit -- fail  (?)
  • Attempt osg submission from pcdev1 -- fail
  • JAVA out of memory problem on ldas-grid work-around found: set JAVA_HEAPMAX env var, use pcdev1 as submit host
  • LIGO software installation problem on osg submithost, fixed: install python module numpy
  • Run lalapps_inspiral_hipe --dax  (LSC_DATAFIND env var had to be set as ldas-cit.ligo.caltech.edu) on osg host, pegasus-plan and submit to UWM; it was ok
• Activity on OSG: Test runs at TTU_ANTAEUS, CIT_CMS_T2 ---very long idles 2 days running now...
• Activity on LDG: Remote submission via Pegasus to cit, lho, llo, uwm_nemo. Very long idles 2 days running now.

OSG INTEGRATION AND VALIDATION TESTBEDS

• Unable to submit binary inspiral workflows from the OSG-ITB-SE host. This was tracked down to not having the python module numpy on the box. After several emails and phone calls, it was tracked down that this was being provided via LSCSOFT package mechanism from DASWG. Kent installed the full LSCSOFT package set using modifications to yum configuration files and problem solved.

OSG MANAGEMENT

• Filled quarterly report as Caltech PI for OSG institutional funds for this past quarter.
• Reviewed job applicants for Grid Administrator position here at Caltech. Had one hopeful to apply last weekend. But all attempts to contact individual have resulted in silence. CORRECTION: While I was drafting this report I got a response from the weekend candidate stating definite interest!
• Reviewed mission statement for OSG and made several editorial suggestions for changes.
• Worked on revamping and reorganizing the OSG Council Website.
• Sent out announcement and agenda for first OSG Council Teleconference as the new OSG Council Chair.
• Worked on organizing to important subcommittees within the OSG Council to address several long standing issues.
• Contacted head of New York State Grids (NYSGrids) to invite his participation in one of the subcommittees after discussing with OSG Director and Paul Avery.
• Chaired the weekly LSC Computer Committee Meeting in Stuart's absence.

_______________

Joseph Betzwieser:

• Working on review for h(t).  Looking at the properties of the noise that h(t) seems to introduce relative to h(f).

_______________

Kari Hodge:

• I am looking at how the different moments of the SNR and chi^2 distributions differ between injections and time slides. Then maybe we can use these numbers in a multivariate classification method, like a random forest.
• I have compared the efficiency (in terms of cumulative volume seen) of several different random forest variations.

_______________

Anand Sengupta:

• Uploaded and updated 3 of my talks to the ppcomm P&P website.
• Worked with Kari on looking at the snr + chi^2 distribution of loud H1 glitches.
• Working on the mass dependent chi^2 - some plots showing explicit mass dependence were made.

Laboratory Computing (Anderson)

LDAS Software Systems (Maros)

• The frameCPP continues to be modified to support Version 7 of the frame specification.
• In an attempt to prevent the manager lockup seen on ldas-cit, the rmJobFiles command now summaries the files removed by directory. This reduces the length of the response. Also, a configuration variable has been added specifying the maximum number of bytes to send as a response. These changes are being evaluated on ldas-dev.
• System testing of LDAS was done on ldas-dev using version 1.9.248 of the software. The datasock test had to be run manually because the --ilwddir option was missing from the automated System test script. It has been corrected and the next running of the System tests should complete. The tests dbmatrix, dbntuple and dbquery were modified to skip initialization and the tests requiring the wrapper. With these modifications, they now pass.
• Week long testing on ldas-test used version 1.9.251 of LDAS and only had failures in the datacondAPI of the form "no such symbol".

LDAS System Administration (Anderson)

Caltech

(Dan Kozak)

• More 6140 benchmarking and reconfiguration.
• Finally got 9940 power supply situation resolved (_many_ emails with Sun later).
• GEO A5 data now transferring via LDR and going to the correct place in /archive (since the GEO guys are giving the runTag "A5").
• Worked with STK to install/configure/test ACSLS 7.2 on our T2000/SL8500 hardware and then configured SAM-QFS on morbo to use it.
• Upgraded T2000 firmware.
• Participated in ingest/import of 3500 T10K & 100 LTO tapes into SL8500.
• Confirmed the bar codes of the T10K tapes missing from our shipment.
• Did some T10K/LTO testing under SAM-QFS.
• Identified bug with tplabel on the new morbo/SL8500 combo...working with Tim Whalen at Sun on this.
• Did a test of ssum under the new version of SAM-QFS (4.6.40) but it still has problems...working with Tim Whalen at Sun on this.
• Participated in LDR upgrade.
• Added LTO st patch on dataserver-cit.
• Worked on /frames problem at LLO, rebooted fb1.
• Worked on 3510 problem at LHO (/export, metadata for QFS filesystems included /frames--fb1 affected).
• Worked on /fb0_frames problem at LLO (3511 had lost access to it's expansion tray disks, possibly because of power problems).
• Gave incorrect interswitch link cables to Cleveland to ship back to Sun.
• Upgraded 2Gb FC switch firmware.
• Worked on how best to interconnect the 4Gb and 2Gb FC switches.
• Helped installed 4Gb FC interswitch links.
• Check of frame files in the cluster found one bad file on node273 which had been rebuilt with noECC so I replaced it with a good copy from /archive.  All other frame files good, other than the handful of burstMDC frames which have been bad for a long time. 
• Discussed cleaning up our LDR local storage module with Kipp Cannon and sent him the code to review.
• Fixed /etc/vfstab on dataserver-test (removed 'bg' on QFS filesystem) so that the "Australian patch" would work correctly.
• Gave Greg a list of tapes for shelf storage at LHO.
• Restarted archiving on opterondata-cit to fix problem with "stuck" archive request.
• Sent boilerplate message to a cluster user about using data in the cluster in preference to data on tape.
• Ejected 30 9940 tapes for shelf storage at CIT and replaced with blanks.  Am working on doing this again, but it's getting hard to find tapes that we aren't using or won't need in the near future.

(Phil Ehrens)

• No cluster fans failed in the last week.
• Daily mce errors on node181 ceased after replacing the two memory dimms associated with cpu0.
• Added cvs repository "repository_prototype" on ldas-sw.
• Built latest apache-2.0.63 and svn-1.4.6 on betelgeuse, plus all optional language supports for svn. This was done to support the use of server-side extensions that allow enhanced browsing of svn repos via graphical web browsers.
• node322 developed problems causing it to lock up after running for less than two hours. Replacing memory dimms did not improve things... In fact, replacing memory caused the machine to become unbootable. Investigation ongoing.
• Updated access password lists on LDAS webservers to use new well-known credentials.

MIT

(Fred Donovan)

• No cluster fans failed in the last week.
• Daily mce errors on node181 ceased after replacing the two memory dimms associated with cpu0.
• Added cvs repository "repository_prototype" on ldas-sw.
• Built latest apache-2.0.63 and svn-1.4.6 on betelgeuse, plus all optional language supports for svn. This was done to support the use of server-side extensions that allow enhanced browsing of svn repos via graphical web browsers.
• node322 developed problems causing it to lock up after running for less than two hours. Replacing memory dimms did not improve things... In fact, replacing memory caused the machine to become unbootable. Investigation ongoing.
• Updated access password lists on LDAS webservers to use new well-known credentials.

Livingston

(Igor Yakushin)

• Changed web password on ldas-jobs.
• Fixed a problem with LSCdataFind at LLO: framecache file did not propagate properly to the nodes, as a result LSCdataFind did not see some of the h(t) data recently downloaded to LLO.
• Working to figure out why DMT online segments are not inserted at LHO.
• Working to figure out why Marcelo cannot use LSCsegFind/LSCdataFind at any of the sites while he can still login to ldas-pcdev1@CIT with his certificate.

Hanford

(Greg Mendell)

• As a part of routine checks, I have verified that the trend and astrowatch data are up-to-date in the LDAS archives at LHO, LLO, and CIT. I also checked on gaps in the C03 h(t) files at LLO, and I am working to track down a few missing files. I worked with LDAS to sort out issues with jobs being held in the Condor queue at LHO.

General Computing (Wallace)

MIT

(Fred)

• New xp setup for visitor.
• Some outlook mail issues.
• Backups of EK's machine spore has problems -- usb, ram issues.
• KM's machine numerous xp problems (requires reload).

Livingston

(Dwayne)

• More Inventory Control System modifications.
• Installed printer drivers for a user.
• Found a problem with mail server, since restore from backup, I am unable to add/modify users from command line.  hoping when I reboot to replace disks it will be OK.
• Worked a number of procurement items.
• Rolling out individual access to SPAM filter, allowing users to have some control over their mail stream.
• Helped a user with a Matlab install on OS X Leopard.
• More site gate issues.  changed some unrelated settings in the kantech software.
• Other usual/unusual user support requests.
• Cleared spam trap.

Hanford

(Larry)

• Continuing with backing up the home accounts.

(Mike)

• Updated server applications "Primavera/Prismpm" on Yacolt.
• Some user support with applications and setting up Calcium Calendars.
• Worked on some Network issues, that required the Cisco switch to be power cycled and a reboot of the NISPLUS server.
• Managing dhcp server and other misc. tasks.

Caltech

(Veronica)

• LIGO:
  • Dennis/Ken:  LASTI quad assembly demo -- I recompressed the raw footage for streaming and set up a webpage for accessing it from the sites.  The feedback from Ken has been positive.  Per user experience, streaming seemed to be preferred over the DVD.
  • Marilyn/Albert:  Working on a webpage of LIGO visitor information.
  • Other web-related issues /user support.
• LSC:
  • Completed the mirgation to the new username/password of the LSC websites.
  • Updates of the database of technical papers.
  • Ongoing work on the ligo.org redo. 
  • Misc. web updates.

(Melody)

• New DCC:  Continuing efforts to get the security features working on the new DCC server.
  Looking into Shibboleth to see how it can be used for user authentication.

(Mike)

• Problems with mail servers. Acrux was having some issues with Mimedefang. I ended up having to reboot acrux. The mail spool was clogged up.
• Worked on going through equipment that was stored in my office such as laptops, video, and mics that were used for LSC and laptops that were turned in by users. Some had hardware problems that are out of warrantee. I have turned over the good laptops to Christian for re-imaging as loaner laptops.
• Started back to work on a gateway replacement server for 40meter.
• End of month backups on critical NT Servers.
• Other misc. user support and sysadmin tasks.

(Christian)

• Re-imaged laptops that were returned to the loaner pull this week.
• Stocked printer cartridges that were delivered to LIGO this week.
• Other misc.: Continued onsite software/phone support.

(Larry)

• Still wrapping some things up from the LSC-V meeting. There has been some pretty positive feed-back on the use of the EVO and webcamxp tools. More testing and training are needed but it looks like things are going in a positive direction for remote access to meetings.
• Worked backups for the user accounts.
• Modified a number of accounts.
• Worked some P-card issues and working on a couple of procurements.
• Regular end user support.

Advanced LIGO and Supporting R&D (Shoemaker)

Advanced LIGO Systems

Modeling and Simulation

From: Hiroaki Yamamoto hiro@ligo.caltech.edu

e2e Weekly Meeting

• Sany and Hiro discussed a method to realistically simulate PSL frequency noise and the frequency servo feedback.

Static IFO Simulation (Hiro)

• Hiro found that the original implementation of the wedge angle based on the ABCD matrix is not sufficient. It uses the beam curvature and size to model the prism effect, i.e., TEM00 approximation or parameterization. This is good for small radius region, but, at the outer region ( r > beam size w ), the correction using the beam size and curvature becomes too large - probably the modal approximation breaks. Global qualitative answers in the past would be correct (Florida group calculated using modal model and agreed qualitatively about general features), but quantitative results to account for small effects O(%), this is not accurate enough.
• The code is revised to use a more fundamental method based on the path length change.
• Hiro did coupled cavity simulations to study the LLO mode matching issue, asked by Muzammil. The mode matching between the input beam and the arm does not change if PRC exists or not. Hiro sets up SIS codes and auxiliary files on Caltech computers so that Muzammil will be able to run the program remotely.

Mechanical Simulation for Advanced LIGO (Sany and SLU team)

• Started modeling the PSL’s frequency noise in our AdvLIGO Input Mode Cleaner e2e model. (The current version does not include the PSL’s frequency noise.) The preliminary computation indicates that the resultant frequency noise of the Mode Cleaner’s transmitted light responds to the MC servo gains as expected. More analysis is being conducted. 

Facilities Modifications and Preparations

From: John Worden <worden_j@ligo-wa.caltech.edu>

• FMP Preparations are underway to review near term facilities modifications which are required to support on-site assembly activities of SEI and SUS.

Prestabilized Laser

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

EnL PSL

• The 35-W laser was installed on the PSL table and an initial check of its performance was made.  There was some puzzlement over the M-squared measurement of 1.2 which was higher than the 1.05 measurement done at LZH. The difference we think is due to the measuring instrument and the general rubbery-ness of M-squareds in general.  The true test is when it is mode matched into the pre-modecleaner.  The output power and output mode as seen on a camera seemed good.  At one stage the output power was just under 40 W. Various laser related channels were added to the DCU and the performance of the laser is being trended.

AdL PSL

• The DAQ hardware for the tests at the AEI is in various stages of being put together.  Still on track for May.

Control and Data Systems

From: Rolf Bork rolf@ligo.caltech.edu

40m Lab

• Exploring design and costs to replace present Ligo style VME electronics with AdL style I/O chassis. Basic idea is to replace VME I/O, but leave other existing electronics in place. This work would be in preparation of using the 40m to test AdL ISC and DAQ systems.
• DAQ data concentrator install/test at the 40m lab should begin next week (delayed from this week as Alex is on jury duty).

ELigo

• All single stage ISI electronics and cabling for HAM6 have been shipped to LHO. Installation and test is scheduled to begin on Monday.

AdLIGO

• UK quad suspension control electronics have been shipped to LASTI. Installation and test are to begin on Monday.
• Preparing presentation of HEPI electronics designs to support HEPI procurement readiness review on Apr. 15.

Seismic Isolation

From: Ken Mason kmason@ligo.mit.edu

SEI Activities and Progress at LHO

• All (3) plates and most of the ISI installation hardware was received Monday.  Working full throttle on Stage0 (Support Post & Stiffener installed & whole thing moved to Test Stand), Optics Table (about halfway done w/ helicoiling), and Stage1 (helicoiled everything we have access to, and will start on Keel & Pitchfork/Boxwork Thurs afternoon/Fri.  Stephany has arrived for assistance, and we have a rotating crew of help locally (Jody, Justin, Vagesh, Cyrus, Gerardo....) -Corey G.

SEI Activities and Progress at LLO

• We have put the 6 GS-13 sensors needed for the HAM-ISI at LHO in pods and they will undergo final testing over the next few days. We anticipate no problems with delivering them on time. -Brian O.

SEI Electronics Design and Fabrication

• All of the electronics and cables have been labeled, boxed up, and shipped to LHO.  Richard has received 5 of 7 boxes, and Fedex says that the other two will arrive tomorrow.  Richard says that he will begin installation this week, getting ready for my arrival at LHO on Monday, the 14th for characterization and commissioning.  -Ben A.

BSC ISI Installation and Test

• Preparing for the installation of the ISI/Quad assembly into the BSC chamber at LASTI. A lifting plate to be used with the spreader bar and a secondary attachment method was designed to ensure the assembly is safely lifted into the chamber, -Ken M.

Suspensions

From Janeen Romie and Norna Robertson

(romie_j@ligo-la.caltech.edu, nroberts@ligo.caltech.edu)

HAM Suspensions for Advanced & Enhanced LIGO

• Output Mode Cleaner Suspension:
  • Tobin Fricke has started investigating the behaviour of the OMC SUS installed at LLO. Some coupling of modes between degrees of freedom is observed. This is expected due to the presence of the electronic cabling going from the silica bench to the structure, and similar behaviour was previously seen in measurements taken at Caltech.
  • First draft of OMC SUS  ELIGO test plan has been circulated for comment.
  • Recycling Mirror Suspension/Input Mode Cleaner Suspension
    Nothing major to report

BSC Suspensions for Advanced LIGO

• Quad:
  • Hazards analysis document is being prepared for the quad+BSC-ISI installation at LASTI due to start next week. Also the controls prototype quad has been removed from the tank.
  • Welding process for the silica monolithic stage is being developed.
    Test report for the upper intermediate mass electronics has been sent to Birmingham.
  • Advanced LIGO project activities and start dates for SUS items for FY08 were agreed.

Core Optics

From: GariLynn Billingsley <Billingsley_G@ligo.caltech.edu>

• Mike Smith has completed another analysis using a 2mm spot on the quad photodiode:
  Background and report on the Adv LIGO Wiki  T080073-01
  http://lhocds.ligo-wa.caltech.edu:8000/advligo/COC_Detailed_Design
• He concludes: Even though the QPD spot becomes severely distorted, as modeled by Zemax, the X, Y position of the output spot centroid at the ETM transmission monitor QPD varies approximately linearly with the IFO beam displacement up to 4 mm at the ETM. This result holds true for up to 2.5 waves of combined astigmatic and comatic optical distortion, and up to 1.0 wave of high order distortion which would simulate distortion lumps in the optic of size 80 mm, in the central 160 mm clear aperture of the reaction mass.
  
• The primary observable effect of optical distortion in the reaction mass is to offset the spot centroid by a constant amount along an axis determined by the azimuthal axis of the distortion. This constant offset can be eliminated in all cases by steering the beam centroid to the center of the QPD during initial alignment.
  It appears that the ADLIGO ETM reaction mass can be specified to have no more than 2.5 waves of phase irregularity in transmission over the central 160 mm diameter clear aperture of the optic.
• Tinsley has suggested a limited measurement range at high spatial frequency, they have delivered an example.
• The third pathfinder is at Coastline optics for initial shaping.
• The COC PDR review team has issued a draft report.  This and PDR items needing resolution can be found at http://ilog.ligo-wa.caltech.edu:7285/advligo/COC_ Preliminary_Design_Review.
• Bill Kells has written LIGO-T080010- 01, an interpretation of OTF Scatter Loss Scans.  This can be found in the DCC.

Auxiliary Optics

From:   k mailand <kmailand@ligo.caltech.edu>

• Have completed a preliminary design of an advanced ligo manifold baffle, which can be suspended, and an eligo only flat panel baffle design, a simpler alternate.
• Samples of baffle base material called 'enameling iron'  with features similar to our baffle design have been black porcelain coated by two vendors, we will examine the coating, Steve Vass also is looking at them with his test set up.
• A piece of the base metal is with Bob Taylor now for rga testing.
• Models for the manifold flat baffle have been made in order to allow vendor quotes. 

Input Optics

From: David tanner@phys.ufl.edu

Enhanced LIGO IO

• Measured the mode mismatch into each of the arm cavities to be 4.19% and 5.48%. (Kate)
• Continuing analysis of mode mismatch at LLO. It appears that the larger mode mismatch seen is the result of coupled cavity.  (Muzammil)
• A technical note has been written to describe the changes on ISCT1 table because of e-LIGO HAM chamber modification in IOO.  (Muzammil)
• Worked on eLIGO modulator. (Volker)

Advanced LIGO IO Design and Procurement Readiness

• Modified IO suspended optic drawings to have symmetric wedges (IO). (Luke)
• Completed Solidworks layout that includes advLIGO vacuum system with optics in simplified suspension envelopes based on Mike Smith's coordinates for all core optics, PRC & SRC (folded & nonfolded IFOs).  Layout also includes new IO layout for nonfolded IFO (IO & AOS). (Luke)
• Calculted mode cleaner and recycling cavity lengths and modulation frequencies. An issue exists for the folded IFO; at present there is not a valid solution that allows a 9 MHz lower frequency for the ISC. 18 MHz will work, with either 45 or 63 MHz for the second frequency. (David)
• Wrote crystals procurement readiness report. (Volker)
• Updated IO suspended optics specifications for the stable recycling cavity layout and wrote new specs for the PMMT mirrors. (Rodica)
• Developed metrology plan for advanced LIGO IOO suspended mirrors.  (Rodica)
• Prepared IOO suspended optics master list and IOO critical components procurement list. (Rodica)
• Worked on HOM in AdvLIGO arm/PR/SR cavities. (Volker)

Advanced LIGO IO Hardware

• Worked on AdvLIGO modulators and MZ scheme. (Volker)

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For additional information about this report, contact Albert Lazzarini or Phil Lindquist