The LIGO outreach interferometer got upgraded to a real breadboard and ThorLabs parts. They needed a way to mount their laser pointer. I used the plastic mount from the old mount as well as some of the half-inch hardware to mount it.

This equipment includes:

• 1/2 inch post. Four inches long (1)
• 1/2 inch post. One inch long (1)
• 90 degree 1/2 inch post connector (1)
• 1/2 post base. One inch tall (1)
• post holder base (1)
• Associated screws

[Sander, Daniel, Jeff]

We have powered on the seeder laser and amplifier in B111B and confirmed a beam on the optical table. The initial Faraday isolator is not aligned, and we powered off the amplifier and laser until tomorrow morning. Both the seeder and amplifier are plugged into the Furman power conditioner as described here. Here was our procedure:

First, power on only the seeder and verify that it is producing light by placing a power meter at the output of the power beamsplitter where the beam dump usually is. We saw 15mW on the power meter and then replaced the beam dump.

Next, we powered on the amplifier by first plugging it into a delay 2 slot on the Furman and then flipping the switch on the back of the laser amplifier. We adjusted the fiber polarizing beam splitter paddles (between the seeder laser and amplifier) until the input power to the laser amplifier read 24mW. We then turned the key on the amplifier and hit enable. There is a beam coming onto the table! Seen with a high power beam viewer card.

The beam is not making it through the Faraday isolator, and this does not change even when rotating the half wave plate, so we conclude it is not aligned.

We proceeded with a shutdown procedure, confirming the current was minimized on the amplifier, hitting disable, then turning the key in the laser amplifier. Next we turned off the seeder using the switch on the front, and finally we powered everything off using the Furman. The Furman shutdown sequence is quite long (2 minutes) as it is currently configured, we will shorten it to 30s total before turning on the system again.

[Lee, Sander, Daniel]

I got two copies of a key for a fire cabinet in B102B that holds chemicals. All 3 keys turn the lock. However, Sander and I couldn't figure out how to use the key to actually lock the cabinet. It seems like you would want to remove the key after turning it 90°, but this wasn't (easily) possible.

[Jeff, Daniel, Sander]

The Furman CN-2400S power conditioner has been placed under the laser amplifier on the electronics rack and is powered by a blue NEMA L5-20 socket above the optical table.

The delay setting is set to one minute between each stage (the 2 minute switch is "on" and the pot is set to 50%), we plan to put the seeder on delay 1 and the amplifier on delay 2. Delay 1 turns on immediately after turning the key. Delay 2 switches on one minute after, and delay 3 an additional minute after that, we confirmed the timing with iPad chargers. To change the delay settings one must unscrew the plastic cover on the front center and use the switches/potentiometer (see manual).

The power cable runs alongside the patch panel cables before routing under the table.

This post is going to cover how to build the ASC DHARD Yaw model (abbreviated ADY) in Buzz. The first step is to make sure that you are on the dev branch the main branch hasn't been updated in a long time (I should do that). the folder for the most up to date ADY model is in the test/ASC_SOLVER folder (not the test/ADY folder). there are a number of model type folders inside of this folder. Basically there is a few ways to attach different FOMs to different outputs of the model. the one we are interested in is the ExampleModels_newFOM. In the folder for this configuration you will find all of the different fits to environmental noise and measurement noise as well as the BNS FOM fit that comes from the test/FOMs folder. None of this should be touched. As it is all been put in this folder to make a specific configuration for this model. The configuration for this model is the basic both FOMs come out of the plant output. To run the code to build this model run the command:

This should run the code in the file T_ADY_make_sys.py that builds the system. It also generates plots to assess if everything was put together correctly. I will now go through these plots and explain what all the important ones say about the model.

FOM_bode.pdf: This plot shows what the two FOMs. Note the scale of these two FOMs is set so that the max of the BNS FOM is 1. It will be rescaled when it gets solved.  

Noise_bode.pdf: This is the most basic plot showing the inner workings of the model. Much like the next plot it is showing the individual components that are going into the function makeSPOFF(). All of the labels are rather self explanatory where "S*P" is the product of the plant and the environmental noise.

SPOFF_diagnostic_bode.pdf: This plot is showing the internal workings of the model. It is showing transfer functions for a number of the components. "P alone" is the plant that was put into the makeSPOFF() function. All the other traces are from the final connected model and are as follows

• "P to P in SPOFF" in the code SPOFF['P.out', 'P.in']: this is what the plant looks like in the model after it has been altered with the makeSPOFF() function

• "S to P" in the code SPOFF['P.out', 'S.in']: this is the path from the environmental noise in (S.in) to the output of the plant. This should be independent of how much of the plant was moved out of P since it is the product of SP.

• "S to S" in the code SPOFF['S.out', 'S.in']: this is the original environmental noise and the as well as the part of the plant that was moved over (P complement)

• "P Recombined" in the code SPOFF['P.out', 'SA.in']: this is the parts of the plant that were separated and should be the same as "P to P in SPOFF". It is the same in the plot attached it is really hard to see because the blue is behind the brown

• "P that moved to S" in the code SPOFF['S.out', 'SA.in']: this is the part of the plant that was moved to the environmental noise section (S). It also should line up with "P to P in SPOFF" because all of the plant's shape should have been moved to the environmental noise.

• "Orig. S" in the code SPOFF['G.out', 'S.in']: this is the original S and should be alone because we don't plot the non SPOFF S in this plot.

With all of the plots produced the configuration folder ExampleModels_newFOM should be automatically updated with the newest version with whatever changes you made. After that run the tests T_calc_H2, T_plot_H2, T_calc_HiB, and T_plot_HiB with the [ExampleModels_newFOM] option to run the solver with your model.

I got the switch that we loaned to Paco back on Friday (see [11983]). It originally came from B102 but since we are moving everything to B111 I decided to put it in the new rack. I placed it on the back of the new rack because that is where most of the networking will go. There was already a small switch there that I unplugged and replaced with this larger switch. This should allow for more expansion in this rack. This work took place on Friday but the log was delayed by the drill press falling. See attached photo for position in rack.

When securing the WEN Drill Press to the table in the mech. shop the base of the press broke in two. The drill press then fell forward off the table. I was under the table and only got hit lightly. The crack happened along the weak point on the cast iron where the most pressure was exerted from the tightening of the bolts. I was tightening the bolts that fasten the drill press to the tabel when the base broke. I had not over tightened the bolts, or at least I thought. The base of the press is poorly designed cast iron that did not have solid support for the bolts. My guess is that there was a defect in the cast iron that gave way when any amount of pressure was put on it. Cast iron snaps really quickly and does not bend at all so it was poorly designed when they did not have a solid connection from where the bolt would pull on the base to the table. We will need to either buy a new drill press, replace the base of this drill press, or attach the drill press by the support rod. The last one is not recomended. Daniel and I put the drill press on its side back on the table and tested it breifly to make sure the head still spun. It does. the light and lasers also still work. The chuck of the drill press got unseated and came out when I pulled on it. The press hit the shop vac when it fell but the shop vac seems okay. we tested it.

I successfully attached the bench vice to the table. The table is made out of a very hard material and I had to use the masionary bits to drill the holes in it. I attached it with locking nuts, locking washers, and loctite blue.

[Ian, Daniel]

We lightly re-tapped (with what looks to be a plug tap) the problematic tapped hole in the 10" Vacuum Cube and discovered a bit of debris 1.6" deep in the problematic hole. The threads are not good before this debris, but this debris would interfere with a 1.75" screw. The holometer used 1.5" long screws for this flange. The debris looks like the end of a drill bit or tap; maybe the bad threads and this drill bit are related (someone broke this tip trying to fix the threads, or this tip was broken and therefore the tapping did not go deep enough.)

We tried to remove the debris with some tweezers and a pick, but it seemed to be stuck.

We then inserted a 1.5" screw with an external hex head and tightened it to 30 Nm. I will label this hole on the cube.

[Jeff, Daniel]

I took an existing 24" tall 19" Electronics Rack and drilled holes in the two side panels for #10 screws using a #3 bit (the height of the width of the existing slots). These holes were both 1.125" from the top. One hole was 0.54" from the inside of the "jut out" that holds the shelves, the other was 1.25" further back (so 1.79" from the inside of the jut out). Note that these holes are further from the jut out than the existing slots so that the cross bar can fit behind the jut out instead of above it.

I then cut ~0.7" off the panels using a band saw in the MCE shop. These panels are made of steel, so I used the band saw meant for steel. I did this after drilling the holes so that I could clamp the panels more easily.

We then assembled the electornics rack, attached the shelf, and placed the SHG Temperature Controller on it. The new rack fits nicely under the optics table.

See the attached picture.

I've assigned the Moku Pros static IP addresses on the device, and added entries to the Pi-hole DNS on the NAS. I have also labeled the mokus with this information.

I tried names of the format "moku.pro.1" and this does not work, my guess is that each substring should be a valid name, and "1" is not. So, when naming things use alphanumeric chunks longer than 1 character

Loaned the 24-port gigabit ethernet switch (see attached photo) to Paco at the 40m. This switch was from B102. Apparently they are testing to see if the power outage affected anything. They are replacing it with one overnighted so we will have it back soon. There will be an associated elog post once they have their system back up and running. i.e. the elog is down because the switch does not work.

[Jeff, Daniel]

From one of the Holometer bend cubes (with only 3 lifting points), we took off the 8" diameter bellows and 10" to 8" Zero Length Reducer CF Flange (while still attached to each other) and wrapped the open end in UHV foil. The cube was fairly dirty on the inside and outside, so we lightly cleaned the outside. We did not clean the inside, but there are particulates that need to be removed.

We then added a 10" blank CF Flange. We felt a lot of resistance from one of the holes, so we used a 1.25" long screw instead of a 1.75" long screw to avoid the bad part of the thread in the cube. As I was tightening the flange to the cube (at around 20 Nm), I stripped the silver-coated screw. See the screw in the foreground of the attached photo. I was able to tighten the other screws (at around 45 Nm) so that the flange is flush along the cube face and the gasket isn't visible. It isn't noticiely worse where the screw is missing.

After I removed the stripped screw, I was not able to add another screw into the cube. However, I was able to "touch up" the thread with a 5/16-24 tapered tap (making sure to only apply a light amount of torque so that the existing thread is only improved) and insert a 1.75" screw. I felt the same resistance as I did with the initial screw insertion, so I want to use a 1.5" long screw. This will hopefully avoid the two bad parts of the thread in the cube that I believe exist: the shallow part, which might be my fault, and the deep part, which existed. We can get this screw from Duniway or McMaster. 

We need to tip over the Holometer Bend Cubes to install the custom tapped CF Flanges onto their (eventual) bases. However, one of the bend cubes has a screw broken off into its 1/4-20 lifting point, so we can only use 3 of its lifting points. Unfortunately, the unusable lifting point is at the corner of two bellows, so when we use 2 lifting points to tip over the cube, a bellows would get in the way. We will have to remove one of these bellows anyway, but now we will have to do it sooner. I propose using a blank 10" CF Flange and making this Holometer Bend Cube the Power Recycling Cube so that we won't ever have to move it if everything goes well.

[Jeff, Daniel]

In preparation for installing the custom tapped CF Flange Bases onto the Holometer Bend Cubes, Jeff and I took off the end cube top, moved them away from the cube, and removed the ribbon cables from the Bend Cube insides. In order to do this, we needed a flat head screwdriver to remove a plastic cap and a 3/32" hex ball key to unscrew the ribbon cable terminator from the flange. We then needed to screw the cap back into the ribbon cable terminator so that it can be easily gripped and removed. We then replaced the end cube top CF Flanges and screwed them in finger tight so the top don't come loose when we turn the cubes onto their side. We stored the ribbon cables and some of its screws in foil and a labeled pouch in the white south cabinet in B111B.

I cleaned a flathead screwdriver for UHV. It is made of multiple metals, so we should get some better ones for UHV.

Ioana and I met this morning to go through every stage and component that is needed to operate the SNSPD in the ICE fridge such that we may begin assembling carts for procurement for GQuEST.

Additionally, we will look for off-the-shelf fiber feedthroughs but if not Ioana can assist me in making our own. 

The 3 axis stage has also been moved from ICE in Downs to Bridge for testing when we do our first cooldowns on the Dewar. We will look for a replacement for the brass component inside it that expands under cryo.

Here is our current list of needed materials and the chain for the signal paths for the SNSPD:

         cryostat parts needed doc

I connected the 3 Moku Pros currently in the large electronics rack to a wall ethernet port via a switch placed on a shelf in the back of the rack.

They are accesible on the desktop on the other side of the room (also connected to the network via ethernet) but cannot be seen by the iPads.