Weekly Report for Week Ending April 16, 2009

Past Weekly Reports

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LSC Issues (Reitze)

• No significant news this week.

LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

STATUS OF LSC MOUs (Lloyd)

• For status of MOUs press here.

PROPERTY ACCOUNTING (Luna)

• Assisted S. Vass with an E-waste disposal at the 40M lab.
• Completed and updated LIGO-Caltech physical inventory.
• Completed and updated LIGO-Hanford Physical inventory.
• Assisted G. Billingsley with packing, creating a commercial invoice, and shipping two Fused Silica Blanks to LMA.
• Assisted S. Anderson with coordinating the shipping of 13 computer racks from LHO (7) and LLO (6) to MIT-Bates Linac.
• Assisted G. Billingsley with coordinating a shipment of two large Substrates from QED to CIT.
• Working with D. Coyne, Ernest Ngalula and Tracy Fraser from Property Services in closing 51 Fabrication Accounts.
• Created an Inventory report for all capital assets at LHO.
• Assisted C. Cepeda with shipping IT equipment to LHO for the upcoming NSF review.
• Assisted H. Radkins in coordinating a shipment of 13 seismometers from LHO to Sercel Inc., in Houston, TX.
• Reviewed shipping / freight invoices for February 09 and March 09.

DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner, Mak)

• Provided DCC training session for Administration Group at Caltech.

FINANCIAL SYSTEMS (Lindquist, Oracion)

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

• Continuing to coordinate closeout of LIGO Cooperative Agreement PHY-0107417 for LIGO Operations FY 2002-8; monitoring final costs and encumbrances.
• Completed FY2009(PHY-0757058) LIGO Operations Report for March 2009 and posted report on the network.
• Issued monthly reports for LSC Support, U.Milwaukee Award and Outreach.
• Link to FY2009 LIGO Operations poetas: http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/docuserv/FY2009_LIGO_OPs_
  PTAs_v3.pdf.
• Link to Advanced LIGO poetas: http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/docuserv/FY2009_Advanced_
  LIGO_PTAs_v1.pdf.
• Financial reports can be found at: http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport. (For passwords contact Karl).

SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Arvizu, Champagnie,
Jasnow, Marroquin, Salone)

>From: Rudy Arvizu <arvizu_r@ligo.caltech.edu>

• See Advanced LIGO Report Below.

>From: Steve Marroquin smarroqu@caltech.edu

• See Advanced LIGO Report Below.
• Continuing close out activities for the remaining contracts under the old Operations Cooperative Agreement.

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

• See Advanced LIGO Report Below.
• Reviewed status of the contract with the Exploratorium to cover their additional scope under the Outreach award.
• Discussed the issues regarding the old Operations contract with MIT in an effort to resolve differences in accounting data.

PROPOSALS and REPORTS (Lindquist, Beckett)

• A monthly report for the end of March was sent to the NSF on April 15.
• The old cooperative agreement for LIGO Operations is now formally ended.  We are busy trying to close the books.  A final report will be due June 30.
• We will discuss the LIGO Operations financial status for the end of March during the executive committee meeting on Monday, April 20, 2009.  We are assembling the presentation materials.

CHANGE REQUESTS (Lindquist)

• Change Request CR-090001, which formally establishes baseline budgets for FY 2009 LIGO Operations, has been distributed for consideration by the LIGO Change Board.  We are still adjusting the details, so it has not yet been considered by the change board.

HUMAN RESOURCES (Akutagawa)

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

• A Staffing Committee meeting was held Monday, April 13th.

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Safety (Nolting)

• Satellite phones were ordered for LLO and LHO to support emergency communication needs during times when normal lines are not in service due to unforeseen events.  Both facilities should be receiving the phones shortly

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

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

• Much work has continued and is underway on identifying sources of resonances in the bucket. The sources of some peaks are understood, while others such as the broad bump at 200Hz remain a mystery. Working from HAM6 viewports, we do not seem to be able to induce a large amount of scatter when holding reflectors at the REFL port, nor see any obvious signs of gross clipping with IR viewer (at any available viewport).
• Our earthquake swarm, just two armlengths away.
• Given the move of the OMC SUS, plant transfer functions (roll first, translation soon) were remeasured. Isolation filters will next be re-made.
• Reboots of TCS processors mean that alignment onto the ITMs had to be redone

Astrowatch (D. White)

• Mean inspiral range ~ 6.7Mpc, uptime = 31%.
• There seemed to be a reduction in the number of local (swarm) quakes, particularly later in the week.

Report on the Squeezer Experiment (D. Sigg)

• MIT: Melodie is working on changes to the layout drawing. We moved cabinets and a table in rm 69 and cleared off the optics so that we can move the optical table, and be ready to set up the laser. A chiller is on its way from Hanford.
• LHO: Continued to work on the design and the prototypes of the new RF electronics.
• ANU: The OPO now squeezes down to ~100Hz.

LHO Outreach (D. Ingram)

• Students from Oroville, WA, ~15km south of the Canadian border, made a long trek to visit LHO on 4/14, in combination with a visit to WSU Tri-Cities. Oroville is one of the GEAR UP schools visited annually by LHO outreach.

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

No report provided.

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 also Advanced LIGO

Controls and Data Systems (Bork)

See Advanced LIGO

40-Meter Interferometer (Adhikari)

Locking:

• Using REFL_DC as CM error signal, we don't see the 3.8kHz problem and the loop gain can be higher than with the PO_DC. We are still adjusting the CM gains as the power is ramped up. However, the IFO loses lock randomly. REFL_DC may be more sensitive to the alignment of the PRM and other mirrors. We are considering to stiffen the optical levers. To investigate the cause of the lock loss, we have imported AutoDTT scripts from Hanford. At this moment, we can go up to the arm power of 26.
• PMC local oscillator level was found to be about 16 dBm where the mixer of the PMC demodulation board is level 23. We ordered a level 13 mixer to replace the old one as was done at LLO and as LHO should be doing right now. Jenne edited the PSL EPICS database and screen to show the LO level in "dBm".
• We tested a new wireless headphone (Amphony 2500), which is digital as opposed to our old analog headphone. It turned out to have a very good sound quality and runs at 5.8 GHz so its doesn't get 802.11 traffic. The noise is almost unnoticeable within ~20m range from the transmitter. This is very useful for acoustic noise hunting and should be bought for both sites.
• Alberto generated several plots of PRCL error signals as a function of CARM offset for REFL1I, REFL3f, and REFLDD. He is now compiling the results into a suggestion for the current and upgraded 40m locking.

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Thermal Noise Interferometer (Black)

• We have made some significant progress on the photothermal experiment since our last report. All of the mechanical modes that were previously plaguing us appear to have been caused by stray light from the pump laser and have now been eliminated. Eric analyzed and simplified the servo that locks the Michelson, and Greg took data from a silica-tantala coating on a Zerodur substrate. The Zerodur sample showed a substantially different signature from the BK7 one, but the results are not entirely consistent with our models. We are continuing our investigations to check the apparatus to verify that we are really measuring what we think we are measuring.

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LASTI (Mittleman)

BSC ISI

• We are working towards closing up the vacuum system. Fabrice has finished testing for local resonances from the cantilevered GS13 pods and large actuators (the pods are a problem, the actuators are not). We are currently rebalancing the platforms, finishing the installation of the new trim mass clamps and hope to have last sealed by the end of next week.

Quad Prototype

• The Quad has been rebalanced and aligned with the triple in the X end HAM chamber. Brett is finishing up some characterization measurements in preparation for sealing up LASTI next week.

CIT Science Group (Weinstein)

__________

Antony Searle:

• Finalizing Bayesian bursts paper changes for CQG referees.
• First PRC runs of S6 release candidate Omega pipeline.

__________

Gregory Mendell:

• I am writing a multiFscanGenerator script to automate generating Fscans for a list of channels, as part of my work with Colin Gill.

__________

Ajith Parameswaran:

• Continued working on spinning IMR waveforms.
• Helped Drew with the bounds-on-massive-graviton calculations.
• Started investigating the differences in the recovered effective distance  between the EOBNR and Phenom. injections in CBC highmass search.

__________

Peter Kalmus:

• Revisions to SGR stack paper.
• Revisions to SGR stack methods paper.
• Ppreparations for upcoming conferences (APS, Amaldi, Grossman).

__________

Igor Yakushin:

• Per reviewers' request:
  • Generated a page with missed loud injections for the second year of S5 coherent waveburst analysis: https://ldas-jobs.ligo.caltech.edu/~igor/S5_second_year/missed.html.
  • Added tables of loudest time-shifted and zero lag triggers for some networks that previously did not have those tables: https://ldas-jobs.ligo.caltech.edu/~igor/S5_second_year/.
  • Explained why the number of considered injections is consistent with the livetime.

_________

Drew Keppel:

• Rerunning the S5 1YR Low Mass CBC upper limit with the luminosity normalization fix and the V4 calibration errors.
• Comparing massive graviton bound results with separate code from Ajith - preparing for my defense

__________

Anand Sengupta:

• I followed up Izabella's high mass close by missed injections <https://www.lscgroup.phys.uwm.edu/
  ligovirgo/cbcnote/JointS5/090416092707S5HiCBCInjections_missed_in_first_coincidence>.
• Running Category X vetoes for Month 3-6 (high mass).
• Multivariate statistics on Chad's 2 months <https://www.lsc-group.phys.uwm.edu/ligovirgo/cbcnote/JointS5/
  090310182904FollowUpsMultivariate_Statistical_Classification_of_triggers_from_Month_23-24_(high_mass)>.

Laboratory Computing (Anderson)

LDAS Software Systems (Maros)

• Efforts have focused on the diskcacheAPI this week. Support for multiple file extensions continues. A new binary file format has been created to support the additional information. The i/o routines have been extended to support the new format.

LDAS System Administration (Anderson)

Caltech

(Dan Kozak)

• Continuing to rearchive data to T10KB format tapes.  All the A5 frames that were on T10KA format tapes are now on T10KB format tapes.  I'm now rearchiving the A5 frames that were on T10KB format tapes but didn't have ssum set.
• Helping with LLO shutdown.
• Continuted to work with Sun about our problems running CAM;got some feedback, but so far the problem hasn't been solved.
• Rebuilt the LHO fb0_frames filesystem as bkup_frames (/msr_frames) with x86 byte order.
• Have been working to try to speed up the restoration of DMT data at LHO.
• Helped restart services after unexpected power outage at CIT.

(Phil Ehrens)

• Supported the installation of the new CIT cluster nodes.
• Helped Chris Pankow move the xxx subversion repo to vcs.
• Various procurement wiki user support tasks.
• Supported the restoration of service to the CIT cluster after an unscheduled power failure.
• Discussed 2009 MOU process with Dorothy Lloyd.
• Discussed future LIGO safety website work with Albert Lazzarini.
• Recieved and activated P-Card. Made first purchase.
• Configured my desktop - Tarazed - To run apache and to serve up the travel.ligo.org website without having to modify the travel webpages.
• Began implementing additional features and functionalty in TAR website per requests by Albert, Dennis, and Marilyn.

(Josh Abadie)

• Finished replacing fans on compute nodes.
• Upgraded condor to 7.2.2.
• Babysit cluster.
• Built 3 of the new cluster nodes.

MIT

(Fred Donovan)

• Talking to Bates people re: visit and node move from observatories.

Livingston

(Igor Yakushin)

• T3s are gone to e-waste facility.
• 4540 is fully configured to backup fb0 data; after starting Disk2Disk script on it I realized that fb0 has not been writing any raw frames for the last 5 days; it turned out Keith did not set permission on the directories right; to copy the last 5 days of data to 4540 we are installing 4 3511s, 1 3510 and fiber channel switch in MSR; Keith corrected the problem on fb0 and the frames started getting to 4540 at 5am today.
• Today LDAS was shut down and we are working to remove all the equipment, except for the cluster which will be handled by moving company, out of the room.
• Tape cabinets are moved to the tape robot room.

Hanford

(Greg Mendell)

• I have built the latest calibration code in lalapps, and I am using this to test the LDAS generation of h(t) data.
• I worked with Dave Barker and LDAS to backup raw minute trends and dmt data, which is now being rsync'd to the "secondary" framebuilder's new filesystem at LHO.
• Helped acquire data from Caltech for commissioning work.

(Dan Moraru)

• Upgraded old nodes prior to shipment to MIT.

General Computing (Wallace)

MIT

(Fred)

• Mostly routine; hardware issue (onboard nic) Ken's machine; rma mainboard.
• Tracking down missing solidworks licenses; new notebook ken; some xp 64 issues Steph.
• Still working migrating openldap to fedora directory server.

Livingston

(Dwayne)

• Continued trying to organize the new GC lab.
• Carl was able to successfully convert his VM image from 2GB chunks to one file and thus able to resize the VM. I need to get his notes.
• Was still jumping through hoops and running in circles for purchases, but I think it has been finally resolved.
• Placed another order with Dell.
• Placed an order with Sun for AdL hardware and additional GC needs.
• Installed software and updated new Dell workstation for two new hires.
• Ran updates on a couple Windows machines.
• Attended a few meetings.
• Worked a couple additional procurement items.
• Numerous usual/unusual user support requests.
• Cleared spam trap daily.

Hanford

(Jonathan)

• Installing access points for NSF review.
• Reconfiguring network equipment to put the new wireless behind a NAT on a separate vlan.
• Internal testing of kerberos with solaris, linux, and windows clients and servers.
• Requesting ssl cert for www.ligo-wa...
• User support Doug Cook, Rick Savage.
• Sat in on a jira meeting to keep informed.
• Routine spam trap clearing and dhcp maintenance.

Caltech

(Larry)

• Worked a number of procurement issues. Still doing some paperwork cleanup.
• Rebuilt the calendar server.
• Cleanup of accounts and getting a few more transitioned over to the new home server.
• Installing of some of the h/w on the new core router.
• Minor logistic work for NSF review.
• Minor changes on documentation for the conference summary report.

(Melody)

• DCC User support (removing wrong files and versions, allowing access).
• Worked on author groups and authorship permissions.

(Mike)

• Loaded a new Engineering workstation for a new user; plus removed old equipment & setup new equipment in his cubicle.
• Continued work on a backup pdmworks server & new backup software.
• Loading a new laptop from Lenovo W500. This is a XP 64-bit install that took a while to get all hardware working. 64-bit drivers for XP are hard to come by. This is an on going project.
• More work on another new Engineering workstation to swap out a user.
• Setup new user accounts.
• Fixed some mail aliases issues.
• Worked on some printer problems.
• Other misc. user onsite/phone user support, and sysadmin tasks.

(Christian)

• Jay Marx - Broken keyboard key on laptop. Call Kar from IMSS to repair.
• Arianna Di Cinto - Computer blue screen error. Updated nvidia drivers.
• Julie Hiroto - Computer won't start. Updated Bios on workstation.
• Minor tweaks on the unit in the display case.
• Continued working on updating unattended Windows XP dvd.
• Other misc.: Continued onsite software/phone support.

Distributed (Grid) Computing R&D (Blackburn)

Grid Application Development

Einstein@Home on the OSG:

• Have now switch over all Gram preferences to using Globus Toolkit 2 GRAM. Currently running at 18 OSG sites.
• The submit host was temporarily down do to a relocation and power outage of the OSG Testbed in the computer room. In addition, AEI's E@H server was down due to a cut cable from from Friday through Monday this week resulting in no new jobs on the OSG during this time period.
• Current OSG ranking statistics: Recent Average Credit (RAC) = 81,512.04869; E@H ranking based on RAC = 10; E@H rank based on accumulated credits = 39.

Binary Inspiral Application on Grids:

• In preparation for the S6 science run injection workflows using one week's worth of data are now being setup on several OSG sites to determine suitability of OSG for running this analysis on a weekly bases and being able to keep up with the data creation.
• Several issues with the code have been identified during this testing and are being worked on:
  • Gap in data error patch being tested.
  • End of file error on data stored at UWM being investigated with help from site admin.
• Pegasus has a new release with the feature Kent requested to allow users to specify a gsiftp server for the pegasus executables. This is being tested. The new RPM for this release has also been tested.
• Working with LSU and LONI to test binary inspiral workflows there. Until Scott has set up the pre-staged data at LONI, workflows are transferring data. A one week of data injection run with vetos is currently in progress there.
• Testing new storage resource manager that has been set up on the OSG Testbed.
• Begun experimenting with Condor Glidein technology for use on OSG sites.

Open Science Grid Integration & Validation Testbed

• Added two more nodes to the testbed - old hardware from previous cluster.
• Installed Hadoop 0.19.1 service to manage the 23 TBs of storage in testbed and created a startup script for Hadoop storage.
• Benchmarked Hadoop (66.5 MBytes/sec reads, 38.5 MBytes/sec writes, 26.2 MBytes/sec combined read/write).
• Installed Bestman-Gateway service on OSG storage element gateway and provided feedback on documentation to OSG for improvements.
• No ill effects to hardware from sudden power loss in computer room this week.
• Fixed a bug in network configurations of two gateway hosts that was causing a link loss.
• Installed FUSE file system in user space utilities and compiled into kernels on all nodes in testbed.
• Switched local filesystems on each storage node from GFS to ext3.
• Tested SRM against OSG recommended test suites.
• Modified condor configuation to support glideins.

Grid Management

• Wrote a response to OSG Project Management describing LIGO's use of the Globus Toolkit. This request originated with CDIGS and is meant to gather inputs for their future planning. The response was first distributed to the LSC Computer Committee for feedback and then sent on to the OSG.
• Worked with USC-ISI to identify the appropriate procedures for their adding new personnel to the existing MOU. Their first "Attachment Z" form was sent to the PI and the LSC Computer Committee was informed of the pending update.
• Wrote agenda for OSG Council Telecon and discussed with co-chair various topics that would be important to close out in this weeks teleconference.
• Provided feedback to an exploratory agreement between the OSG and SURAGRID.
• Worked through several Caltech offices and LIGO staff members, including the directorate to address charging issues raised by Caltech.
• Provide University of Wisconsin, Madison with a quarterly financial report.
• Wrote agenda for LSC Security Certificates and Authorization Team telecon after discussing several topics of relevance in this week's CompComm telecon.

Advanced LIGO and Supporting R&D (Shoemaker)

Advanced LIGO Management

From Carol Wilkinson

Project Controls

• Project controls staff prepared the monthly status report, data for the FY09-Q2 quarterly report, and project cost and schedule status talks for the upcoming NSF Review of AdL project in April. Updates to data were provided after the internal review talks were given.
• The Procurement Coordinator met with Suspensions leaders last week and this week to work through the procurement plan for the Output mode cleaner suspension procurements starting in May.

Staffing

• Hiring for site assembly staff is going well, with a good number of quality applicants. Offers have been made and accepted for two out of three assembly tech positions at LHO. Interviews are continuing at both sites for April and May start dates, which meet need dates. The filled positions to date are: 1 logistics support, 1 clean and bake tech, and 2 SUS assembly techs at LLO; and 1 clean and bake and 1 assembly tech at LHO. The remaining open positions are for 1 inventory control tech and 1 SEI assembly tech for LLO; and 1 clean and bake, and 1 SUS assembly tech at LHO.

Procurements

For Ed Jasnow

• Reviewed several RFQ's for the seismic isolation components, including the blades, springs, and the maraging steel procurements.
• Reviewed the current draft of the RFP and specimen contract for the core optics coating procurement.

For Steve Marroquin

• Awarded FM-101-A “Air Bake Oven” bids to Thermal Product Solutions (TPS)/SeaTek on April 3, 2009. We (Lubinski, Worden and Marroquin) are currently in discussions with TPS finalizing their quote with respect to some options and providing a preliminary sketch of the load cart.
• Executed purchase order to Gerbig Engineering Company for Thirteen Airecell Class 100 Cross Flow Workflowstations.
• Executed purchase order to Clean Air Products. for clean room and soft wall.
• Executed Change Order No. 1 for Cangelosi Ward purchase orders to cover field changes.

For Rudy

• MIT Subaward No. 75ADV-1085563. The FY2009 funding modification was issued on 4/10/09.
• CO118 Core Optics Coating solicitation has a critical procurement schedule (be on contract by 8/1/09). Prepared a draft RFP and specimen pending the revised technical requirements. Garilynn Billingsley will perform the initial draft RFP and specimen contract review followed by the concurrent administrative review (Office of General Counsel, Purchasing Services, and Export Compliance Office).   The plan is to model this procurement on the lessons learned in the Core Optics Polishing solicitation, which required 115 calendar days from the RFP issuance to Contract execution.  We are at 115 calendar days until 8/1/09.
• The contract modification for ARES Corp. Contract No. 75ADV-1085615 is in process and will be issued the week of 4/20/09.  ARES Corp. provides AdvLIGO Program Management support at LHO (PM102).  The period of performance 4/1/08 - 9/30/14.

NSF Acquisition Approvals

• The Acquisition Plan for the second half of FY2009 is under review by LIGO management before being sent to Ann Miller at the NSF on April 17. The plan includes four Suspensions procurements and the Data Acquisition contract with Columbia University for the timing system.

Progress Updates

• The monthly report for the month of March was sent to the NSF on April 14. The quarterly report will be submitted early this month in order to be available to reviewers on the NSF review of the project at the end of April. The project status at the end of March will be the basis of the reports to the NSF in the first annual review of the project on April 28-30.

Meetings & Reviews

• The next Monthly Progress Reporting Meeting will be on Thursday, May 14 at 8:30 AM PT. Subsystem leaders or their delegates need to attend.
• Annual NSF review of the Advanced LIGO project will be held at the Hanford Observatory on April 28-30.

Advanced LIGO Systems

Dennis Coyne <coyne@ligo.caltech.edu>, Peter Fritschel <pf@ligo.mit.edu>, Calum Torrie<ctorrie@ligo.caltech.edu>,
Matt Evans <mevans@ligo.mit.edu>, Ed Chavez <chavez_j@ligo.caltech.edu>, Bob Taylor <taylor_r@ligo.caltech.edu>,  Mike Smith
<smith@ligo.caltech.edu>, Mike Zucker
<mike@ligo.mit.edu>, Hiroaki Yamamoto
<hiro@ligo.caltech.edu>
see the Adv. LIGO Systems wiki

AdL Project-Funded Activitie

Design/Readiness Reviews: For a list of reviews, see the main AdL wiki page

• SUS OMC Suspension FDR report was issued (see wiki and L0900064) (Sam).
• Review of the UK provided ETM/ITM quadruple pendulum suspension electronics continues (Jay H., Vern).

Procurement Techncial Reviews: see the procurement wiki

• Technically reviewed & approved revised SOW for SEI HAM-ISI maraging steel springs (Dennis).

Technical Review Board (TRB): see the TRB log

UHV & Vacuum Review Board (VRB): see the VRB log

• FEA of HAM2 / 8: (Calum) I have now completed a simplified model of the HAM table for FEA and have added to it several FEA versions of the HLTS and HSTS. In order to test whether or not my setup (PC etc ...) and our version of ANSYS can handle this complexity of file I ran a modal analysis of the assembly without any attention to the model setup i.e. material connections etc ... The first set of results finished last night after several hours, actual time TBC. These show a number of rigid body modes in the 10's of Hz region and then a number of "structural" modes in the 100's of Hz range. The next stages include
  • Adding more realistic boundary conditions to represent the clamping of the structures to the table with the dog clamps.
  • Applying correct material properties to all of the parts.
  • Checking all of the connections of the various parts in ANSYS.
• Optical Contamination Cavity Testing: (Bob T., Liyuan)
  • Cavity 1: 7 production BOSEMs.
  • Cavity 2: carbon-loaded PEEK; proposed as spool for the new value engineered OSEM (nickel plated PEEK might be a fallback).
  • Queue:
    • Tra-Bond 2103 epoxy (a medium viscosity, low outgassing, general purpose epoxy) -- proposed replacement for Vacseal.
    • Krytox low vapor pressure lubricant (we have samples).
    • Torr-Seal (Varian adhesive -- proposed replacement for Vacseal).
    • Barrierta-IS (a German Company low vapor pressure lubricant alternative to krytox, that New Focus thought may be cleaner) (we have samples).
    • Retest ADE position sensor materials (2 Tra-Con epoxies) due to the anomalous test results (no samples in hand).
    • Copper & kapton clad fiber optic. Brian Lantz wants to test this material for use with an optics table, optical lever system. Could be used for ALS etc. Likely "inherently" vacuum compatible, but worth checking since it has a polymer. 
    • Nedox solid lubricant (for potential BSC-ISI tooling use (class b) but perhaps useful in vacuum as well) (had small sample -- likely inadequate in size).
    • Tungsten carbide/carbon (WC/C) sample (for potential BSC-ISI tooling use (class b) but perhaps useful in vacuum as well) (had small sample -- likely inadequate in size probably inherently vacuum compatible).
    • Cesic sample (composite ceramic of SiC, Si and C) possibly inherently vacuum compatible application is not clear (high stiffness to weight structure) (sample size adequate?).

Configuration Control & Documentation:

• SolidWorks Drawing Templates: Mike Meyer has issued a draft set of revised drawing templates which are being reviewed.
• PDMWorks Vault Backup: (Mike Pedraza) I now has the backups setup to where the Vault should never be interrupted again. All my work will be off another drive rather than the live  VaultData drive. As of now I'm setting up the backup server to pull a nightly copy of the current vault  to a backup vault. I will also be putting a copy to a unix server that gets daily backups. Then at the end of the month a copy will be transferred to tape, and stored in another building.
• PDMWorks Vault for HEPI: Mike Pedraza will be resurrecting the old PDMWorks vault used at LLO for HEPI years ago so that the SEI group can recover some files which did not make it into the primary vault.

Design/Planning:

• PR2 posiiton error: Ray B. found an error in the coordinates (and hence PRC length) of the the PR2 optic (while preparing a Melody model for comparison to FFT/SIS). Muzammil and Mike Smith have identified the source of the error and with Luke are correcting it. Should not have significant impact.
• Optomechanical layout progress in SolidWorks (Ed, Calum, Dennis):  Ed and Calum are continuing to work on the layout of the chambers (mostly Ed). We have now moved into a phase where we can take advantage of the tree structure used in the layout of each chamber to involve other engineers. So far this week Luke Williams and Mike Smith have provided additional items for inclusion in the chambers and Celine has worked on improving our simple representation of the BSC table. Ed:
  • I reworked HAM3 Top Level Assembly, incorporating the new configuration scheme.
  • I completed the rework for BSC7, 8 & 5.
  • Mike S. provided me the imported model for ETM Telescope along with the Coords. I was able to insert it in BSC5.
  • Luke provided me the model for the Arm Cavity Baffle (ACB) Envelope, Mike S. gave the info about the Detailed Version in the vault. Mike S. helped me to position temporarily these two models in the BSC8-H2 chamber; I’m waiting Luke to release ownership on these models so I can add the Ref. Tools. (He will do it tomorrow Friday 4/17) I worked backwards to create the 3D sketch.
  • Neim also gave the model for the Output Faraday Isolator. Mike S. also helped me to position this model in the HAM11-H2 Chamber.
  • Completed the layout model for the adjustable strut to be used in BSC Chambers. I created 2 sub-assemblies (0° and 45°), with 3 different strut’s lengths (12”, 24” and 36”) configurations.

Interfaces: see the RODA status page and the Interface Control page.

• On and around the test mass: (calum) After several days of discussion all of the items in the v2 revision of LIGO-T0900092 (I have still to complete one item) now have a defined location, plan for inclusion (i.e. updating the face plates etc ...), associated recommendations and a place in a draft order of assembly. All of the questions from this document were also posed to RAL and have been addressed. I am in the process of writing up a full report with the above information. The report will also include any outstanding problems and if appropriate proposed solutions.

Modeling and Simulation

From: Hiroaki Yamamoto hiro@ligo.caltech.edu

COC / TCS (Hiro)

• IFO performance impact of uncorrectable lens due to the standoff type thermal shield was estimated using SIS with a phase map provided by Phil.
• From Phil's e-mail:
  • This thermal phase profile assumes that the ITM is heated uniformly by the CP over its AR face. This is a very good approximation for minimal CP/ITM separation and no ESD. It is still a good approximation for the nominal 5mm CP/ITM separation, but the effect of the ESD is a little harder to judge, and I have not tried to do so. This thermal lens must therefore be taken as a best case.

• The lens is a nice parabolic shape, r^2 / (2 R(lens)), R(lens) = 130km. Assuming all other thermal effects can be compensated by a ring heater and CP, this lens was placed in ITM. The net effects are (1) the power in the arm is reduced by 0.1% due to mode mismatch induced by this lens, and (2) the signal sideband TEM00 mode is reduced by 0.1% due to the lens effect of this lens.
• This SIS result is consistent with a simple mode mismatch calculation.

Stationary IFO Simulation (Hiro)

• SIS code development going for the implementation of full AdvLIGO.

Safety

From: David Nolting   dnolting@ligo-la.caltech.edu

• Satellite phones were ordered for LLO and LHO to support emergency communication needs during times when normal lines are not in service due to unforeseen events.  Both facilities should be receiving the phones shortly.

Advanced LIGO Safety Wiki Page

• The web page has some updates and new additions that are in direct support to AdL activities.
• Three new Compliance documents were created and placed in the DCC and are accessible on the AdL Safety Wiki:
  • WISHA - Guidelines for reporting serious worker related incidents.
  • Cal-OSHA - Guidelines for reporting serious worker related incidents.
  • Federal OSHA - Guidelines for reporting serious worker related incidents.
  Also, a Hazard Analysis Template has been created and is available at the AdL Safety Wiki for view and use.
• Work in progress on a document that details the LIGO procedure for reporting serious worker related incidents to WISHA, Cal-OSHA and Federal OSHA, as well as notification requirements to the DOE for LHO.

AdL NSF Review

• Finalizing the revisions to the Safety Presentation for the NSF review later this month at LHO.

Quality Assurance

From: Mick Flanigan flanigan_m@ligo-wa.caltech.edu

QA Wiki:

• Currently updating the QA wiki to provide a better source of information. Layout is being modified, and many more links to documents, presentations, and templates for inspections are being developed.

Supplier Audit Forms:

• Will be completed with the number of inspection report forms targeted to specific industries this week. Links will be provided on the QA Wiki, and will include reports for machine shops, electronics houses, raw material suppliers, welding, optics, polishing, etc. these are living documents, I plan on working through each early draft with the best people to help further define questions at LIGO.

Procurements:

• Worked with Steve Marroquin this week to review and provide QA documentation for the new standardized RFQ form he is developing. The form looks great, Steve has been making some minor edits but will be a nice tool in the future to hopefully standardize the RFQ process.

Site Logistics Team:

• Met with Tom Gentry for the first time this week, discussing inventory database, inspections and defect tracking. Tom and I will work on a plan to transition a working inventory system to him over the next few months, and he will take on the longer term development of the system. The key here is that we get a working system in place asap, and perform the tighter integration with our other procurements and engineering systems down the road.

Inventory Database:

• Phase 1 is nearing the goal date of release April 17th, landing on servers at LLO April 20th-22nd. We will most likely still be working on Phase 1 this weekend and into early next week with testing and bug fixes, but the system is starting to look like what we envisioned a couple months ago. In this phase we will be able to:
  • Bulk load PO's and the parts associated with them.
  • Bulk import existing parts at each site.
  • Single entry in JIRA of a part or a PO.
  • Write a shipping record against a PO to track shipments and qty's shipped.
  • Receive items at sites and track location, record any shipping issues, and enter after the fact shipments (when a shipment did not get written against a PO but still showed up at a site).
  • Perform detailed inspections to verify parts, quantities, accept or reject parts.
  • Allow for Procurements to quickly asses if a PO can be paid based on what has been accepted at the sites against the PO.
• Phase 2 will add to this the ability to track parts through the clean and bake processes, create assemblies and manage parts lists against those, as well as allow for modification history and integrate defect tracking against parts. We will also be adding other inspection types to the system, and creating a shipping system to transfer parts from site to site, and implement storage loads with detailed locations so we know where a part is at any time. Parts will have a easy to use genealogy, where its complete history from PO to Commissioning can be reviewed.

Facilities Modifications and Preparations

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

• Continued interviewing/selecting candidates for technical positions.
• Punch lists and wrap up on observatory facilities improvements.

Seismic Isolation

From: Ken Mason kmason@ligo.mit.edu

aLIGO Project Activities

SEI  Electronics Design and Fabrication:

• The 28 L4C field cables for LLO were shipped last week, and received by Ericka Forsi. We have sent the remaining 159 L4C Cable parts to Dinkar at Ticor Industries for production.
• The quick prototype run of the STS-2 Distribution chassis board is in the works.  Things should start coming in in the next few weeks.
• We are working on the Pump Servo now, and investigating different ideas for its processor.
• Mohana's Coil Driver schematic is almost finished being reviewed.  It should be final very soon.
• We have been looking at the BSC ISI in-vac Trillium pod drawings, and figuring out clearances for the in-pod connector and cable assembly. ~Ben A.

HAM ISI Design and Procurement:

• We have made a decision to order the maraging steel directly and send it to the shop chosen to fabricate them. Quotes have been received.

HEPI Build Status:

• Pump Station -- Some minor assembly this week by Michael Sakosky.  No new parts in hand.
• Actuator -- KineOptics will ship 12 units to LLO soon.  Received parts for 30 more assemblies this week; welding to begin shortly.
• Housing Weldments -- 20 more units delivered to Hanford.  LHO has 40 now; 20 shipping in a week or two, last 12 expected mid May.  LLO should have all 24 now.
• Crossbeam Foot -- LHO has all units (72 pieces); LLO should have all 24 units now.
• DSCWSprings -- Type 01(HAM) LLO should have all 48 (+ 3 spare); LHO has 15 of 96 on hand.  LHO has 25 of 48 BSC version.
• L4C -- Sercel shipping first units with correct connector; incorrect units have been returned.
• Misc Machine Parts -- Still waiting on a few key items to allow assembly from this procurement--shop has been prioritized. Lots of parts shuffling for storage & tracking. ~Hugh

SEI Activities and Progress at LHO:

• Making new Plant measurements for the HAM6 ISI due to recent payload change (SUS-OMC was moved). ~Corey

R & D Activities

BSC ISI Design:

• Celine and Fabrice have finished the FEA analysis of Stage 1 showing the effect of the vertical actuator position. In its current location the actuators are twisting the box structure. The group is weighing the effect on the schedule should we decide to make this fix.
• Myron and Fabrice secured the top of the vertical GS-13 pod at LASTI and found a considerable improvement between 100 and 200 hz.

Suspensions

From Janeen Romie and Norna Robertson  
(romie_j@ligo-la.caltech.edu, nroberts@ligo.caltech.edu)

Operations Work

• Working with the procurement group and QA on the blade prototype RFQ.
• Prototype sapphire prisms are being sent to the laser ablation vendor today.
• OMC drawing package reviewed and BOM created preparatory to procurements.
• Work on design of remaining HLTS parts for prototype continues, reducing complexity/weight. HLTS structure drawings have been sent to Mike Gerfen for implementation.
• Work has restarted on looking into stiffening of HSTS structure design.

Project-Funded Activities

• Worked on the major acquisitions list for the 2nd half of FY09 ( those acquisitions > 250K) with Carol and Alan. There are 4 SUS items on the list, including the OMC structure/weldment procurement package which will include OMC structures for the AOS Faraday isolator suspensions. The number of OMC units to be purchased has been revised to match the number expected to be recommended by the OMC final design review committee, taking into account reuse of existing ELIGO parts. This reassessment of number leads to a saving on OMC costs. Another of the items in the acquisition list is the HLTS structures/weldments. We have revised the cost (upwards) for these items scaling from actual costs incurred from procuring the ELIGO OMC SUS. The various changes in costs which all of the above considerations have led to will be captured in an ACR next month.
• Held a kick-off meeting for the Advanced LIGO OMC procurement of weldments and machined parts. (This anticipates a favourable report from the OMC final design review committee.)
• Prepared NSF presentations and participated in internal reviews this week.
• Completed monthly variance report and commented on monthly NSF report.

Prestabilized Laser

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

Operations

• I am still working on more material for the general laser safety training course. The material is in relation to eye injuries.

Project

• The Faraday isolator polarisers in the 35-W laser at LLO have been replaced. The original polarisers had a humidity sensitive epoxy that caused alignment drifts in the laser. The laser alignment was tweaked up and most of the output power lost since installation has been recovered.
• A check out of the PSL related EPICS signals has been completed. Apart from the calibration of two signals, all seems okay. Next step is checking the data acquisition channels.

Input Optics

From: David tanner@phys.ufl.edu

Advanced LIGO R&D

• We tested SF57 in vacuum, increasing the heating power in steps. The results indicate a nice linear thermal lensing in vacuum. We are currently testing SF57 in vacuum under heating for longer periods of time. (Zack, Muzammil)
• We used the 100 W laser at the LLO HPLF to make measurements of the properties of SF57: thermal lensing, coating quality, and (partially) the amount of scattering by the glass. Then, we realigned the system to make the in-vacuum long-term high-intensity test of the LMA mirror coating system, and are presently pumping it down. (David F)

Advanced LIGO Design

• A scheme to incorporate cavity length changes proposed by ISC group has been devised. The details can be found at: http://lhocds.ligo-wa.caltech.edu:8000/advligo/Mod._freq._change. (Muzammil)
• We are working on advanced LIGO HAM2 layout. (Luke)
• We are working on the design AOE (adaptive optical element) (IO).

Advanced LIGO Procurement

• We are working on coating specifications for IO optics for Advanced LIGO. (Rodica)

Core Optics

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

All activity is for the Project this week.

• Continuing set up in preparation for First Contact application/removal study.
• The AR Scatter measurements with two 1" super polished Fused Silica substrates on CASI are done. Underway is measuring two 1" HR coated contamination cavity mirrors, of which the substrates are the same type. Comparing  the measured BRDFs of the substrates and HR coated mirrors would be helpful to understand possible contribution of the coating to the total scatter.
• Our first weekly meeting with Tinsley focused on clarifying the classification of micro pillars.  Also covered the proper channels for communication between LIGO and the various Tinsley subcontractors.  In anticipation of shipping to polisher, all core optics blanks have been inventoried.
• The RFP for polishing the suspension penultimate and end masses went out on the 15th.

Auxiliary Optics

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

Work Under Project Budget

OPTICAL LAYOUT:

• Muzammil found a discrepancy in the H1 and L1 PR3 Y-coord. The correct value should be -178.6. However, using the corrected Y-coordinate unmasks a coincidental error in the power recycling cavity length--so, in order to have the correct power recycling length = 57676, the PR2 must be moved to global X = -3548.35. In addition, ISC is proposing to shorten the arm cavity lengths in L1 and H1, which may have a trickle down effect on the PR and SR recycling cavity lengths and mirror curvatures; The PRM and SRM wedges will be changed to 1 deg with thick side down to reduce the polarization rotation of the input beam into the PRM and to bring the IO optical suspension closer to the HAM table. Mike will issue a revised T080078 doc when these changes are incorporated into the ZEMAX layouts. Luke is continuing to work on the HAM2 optical layout.

INTEGRATED LAYOUT:

• Mike is working with Eduardo to place the AOS components in the integrated layout SW model.

Work Under Operations Budget

OPTICAL LEVER:

• Riccardo toured the facilites of ABC sheetmetal company and discusssed their manufacture of our light-weight, pyramidal optical lever pier concept. He also talked to Microlasers company about continuing to use their lasers for optical lever beams--he discovered that their laser, which we currently use in LIGO, is unpolarized; they recommend using non-polarizing optical fibers; however, for Initial LIGO we presently couple their laser to the telescope through a polarizing fiber, and this may cause significant power fluctuations of the beam exiting the fiber. Microlasers also manufactures fiber-coupled, stainless steel body beam expanders that, although heavier, might be more stable than the aluminium body ones we currently use.

OUTPUT FARADAY ISOLATOR:

• Niem is making drawings of a prototype for testing  the Faraday Isolator suspension design.

35 W AIR-COOLED BEAM DUMP:

• K. Mailand is completing the shop drawings. The polished si pieces are expected next week. The air-bake of the polished stainless steel samples is in process.

ETM TELESCOPE/ TRANSMON:

• Based on Sam's analysis of the extreme focusing requirement (< 50 micrometers mirror separation) of the present f/2.9 telescope, Mike made a preliminary design concept of a folded, 3 meter f/16 telescope that will fit on the Transmon table. The telescope will be temperature-stabilized and mounted kinematically underneath the suspended Transmon table; a periscope will bring the beam up through the table to the Transmon optics on top; the Transmon optics are slightly above the BSC chamber viewports, and the input/output beams will shoot down from inside the vacuum.

MIDSTATION BAFFLE:

• Mike and Riccardo are still investigating the scattering requirements for the proposed midstation baffle, which will reduce the crosstalk of scattered light between H1 and H2 COC mirrors.

TCS:

• Phil and Aidan presented a conceptual design for a power and beam-pointing stabilized CO2 laser heating system. Some parts of the new concept are already being prototyped at ELIGO.

Control and Data Systems

From: Vern Sandberg <sandberg@ligo-wa.caltech.edu>

"Operations": R&D, and ELIGO DAQ

LHO - Electronics:

• Developed training for new engineers by supplying hands-on experience rebooting hung IOC h1susauxl0 and fixing a blown Frequency Devices chip on an AA chasis for BS LL coil. (This is the first time we have had to open up a suspension AA chasis on the 2k since installation.)
• Worked with the contract electrician on the sizing and layout of power circuits in the warehouse/ bakehouse.  Placed orders for new LDAS transformers and panels.

LHO - Systems/Software:

• Upgrade of the final "sparc" framebuilder is on-going. The raw minute trends and the "/dmt" files were archived by LDAS and the RAID (disk array) was reconstructed with an Opteron writer. The trends are now being restored to the RAID, which we expect to take the rest of this week to complete.
• The new ldas gateway QFS writer for this RAID is being constructed.

LLO - Electronics:

• Completed cabeling for the TCS Chiller serial communications. Cleaning up and reworking plumbing and cable runs on the TCS systems.
• Development ongoing on the electronic traveler concept as well as CDS documentation in general.  We are making headway, but more work is needed to finish this much needed item.

LLO - Systems/Software

• Install the TCS Chiller communication software and EPICS interface.  We set up a new EPICS installation (Release 3.14.10 64-bit Linux) and built the software on the new 'l1epicsl0' front-end.
• The local raw frame storage was increased from 3 to 6 weeks on the CDS framebuilder RAID (FB0) because the compressed raw frames now being produced are about 1/2 the size of the uncompressed frames.

"Project": AdvLIGO Systems

SEI:

• The 28 L4C field cables for LLO were shipped last week and received. The remaining 159 L4C Cable parts have been sent to Ticor Industries for production.
• The quick prototype run of the STS-2 Distribution chassis board is in the works.  Things should start coming in in the next few weeks.
• Developing the Pump Servo now, and investigating different ideas for its processor.
• Coil Driver schematic is being reviewed and will move to a final release.
• Reviewing the BSC ISI in-vac Trillium pod drawings and gaging clearances for the in-pod connector and cable assembly.

SUS:

• Top Driver Pre-Production Prototype testing completed and the report is being written.
• Simulation of the PUM Pre-Pre-Production Prototype circuits completed and the test plan for the evaluation unit has been written. Testing should start later this week.
• Testing of the Triple Acquisition Driver prototype is complete and the schematics are being finalized.
• Testing of the triple low current driver prototype is on hold for other items. The test plan should be written later this week and testing started next week.
• 3 top drivers and one UIM driver have been shipped to LLO for installation in the test stand. Testing of the units will be done at LLO.
• 2 Top drivers have been shipped to LHO for installation in the Test Stand. Testing of the units will be done at LHO. In addition, the CPU, IO chassis, ADC, DAC, AA chassis, AI chassis and cables (all US provided components) have been shipped to LHO for installation in the test stand.

DAQ:

• Continued DAQ test system build/test at LHO.
  • One FE computer on line and running.
  • 10GigE network running with 4 nodes.
  • Data concentrator awaiting software.
  • Loading software tools on operator station.
  • Building up CDS server.
• Coding/testing realtime comms between front end computers over 10Gig Ethernet.

ISC:

• Began turnover of material to Carl Adams as relates to the Advanced LIGO vacuum feedthrough and cable design.
• Installed a version of a signal breakout chassis at LLO. This chassis will allow the audio system and other similar secondary systems to sample the OMC DCPD signals without creating a mess.
• Working on review preparations for ISC PDR.

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For additional information about this report, contact Albert Lazzarini