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Reports until 12:48, Tuesday 01 September 2015
H1 ISC
keita.kawabe@LIGO.ORG - posted 12:48, Tuesday 01 September 2015 - last comment - 17:28, Wednesday 02 September 2015(21094)
Harmonic generator testing (Filiberto, Keita)

We pulled both the power supply and the harmonic generator from the remote rack and tested them in the lab, together with spare supply and spare generator. We used a spare 9.1MHz source on the bench.

In the lab, regardless of the combinations (supply and generator), 45MHz thing was clean.

In the rack, we tested the original generator with spare and original supply, with 9.1MHz source coming from the distributor in the rack. In both of the cases there were huge 45+-2MHz-ish humps.

Evan reported in the past that using IFR at the rack didn't change the results, so we didn't bother to look at 9.1MHz source.

In all of these test cases both in the lab and rack, the only thing connected to the harmonic generator was power supply, 9.1MHz source and the network analyzer on 5x output. Everything else was terminated.

We also looked at the supply voltage in the lab. We opened the chassis and used clips to access gnd and +15V test points. Under the load, both of the units didn't show any huge high frequency noise. RMS voltage measured on the scope was about 1mV, which was dominated by some pickup (it got smaller when I hand held the chassis away from the 9.1MHz source). Fil also measured the spectrum and it was within the spec. And anyway, the harmonic generator didn't show any hump in the lab, so the power supply is pretty much exonerated.

Fil put the original units back in.

Comments related to this report
rich.abbott@LIGO.ORG - 13:17, Tuesday 01 September 2015 (21098)ISC
Do the other harmonic harmonic generator output spigots have excess sideband noise?
evan.hall@LIGO.ORG - 14:03, Tuesday 01 September 2015 (21100)

Rich, yes. I took measurements of some of the other ports of the HG in the CER a few days ago (measurements attached).

001.TXT: 45 MHz output

002.TXT: 27 MHz output

004.TXT: 135 MHz output

005.TXT: 90 MHz output

007.TXT: 36 MHz output

Non-image files attached to this comment
rich.abbott@LIGO.ORG - 16:48, Tuesday 01 September 2015 (21113)
There's a clue in the data files you attached.  Looking at the plot of the 45 MHz, you see side lobes at +/- 1MHz.  Looking at the plot of 90 MHz, and 135 MHz you see side lobes with the same offset frequency.  If the source of the pollution was coming into the input of the harmonic generator, then the peaks of the side lobes would scale with frequency.  Given that this is not the case, you are looking for something that effects each frequency directly.  In my opinion, that would most likely point to a power supply issue causing phase modulation of an amplifier common to each output spigot (based on the observation that the induced modulation is about the same in each channel and assuming that's the physical topology of the HG).  

There is 50dB of separation between the peak of the carriers and the side lobes, so you can produce a spectrum like that with a pretty small 1 MHz noise hump on a power supply rail.  I would be wanting to look at the HG power supply directly with an RF spectrum analyzer (be sure to AC couple the power supply to the spectrum analyzer or else you will need to buy a new spectrum analyzer, 1000pF would suffice)

I don't know exactly how you are measuring these noise peaks, but I guess it could also be something in the particular spectrum analyzer (if you are using a different analyzer in the shop for example).  Have you looked at a "clean" signal to be sure you don't see it on all observed signals with that particular analyzer?  Sorry if this is simplistic, you may well have already vetted this and wrote about it only to have me forget somewhere.

I now wish I had popped the top on the HG and its power supply.  I have been itching to do that for a while, but missed the opportunity while I was there this weekend.  I'd be super interested to see a photo of the insides if anyone felt like looking...
daniel.sigg@LIGO.ORG - 00:28, Wednesday 02 September 2015 (21129)

The power supply is a LIGO low noise unit boxed into a standard chassis. More details here. Possible points of investigations: power cable shielding, power decoupling at the generator side, grounding issues.

evan.hall@LIGO.ORG - 05:21, Wednesday 02 September 2015 (21132)

I went back and looked at the IFR data from a few days ago, and it seems that this may be a problem with the 9 MHz coming from the OCXO. The first attachment shows the output of the harmonic generator when powered from the IFR versus the OCXO. The IFR measurement still has peaks around the 45 MHz, but they are much smaller than with the OCXO.

As a check, Dan and I measured the spectrum directly out of the IFR and out of the OCXO (no distribution amplifier involved). In both cases, the spectrum on either side of 9.1 MHz looks pretty clean, but the OCXO has much worse noise between 0 and 2 MHz, and the shape qualitatively matches the peaks that are seen on the outputs of the harmonic generator.

We also did some related tests, like looking at the 45 MHz spectrum of the spare HG when powered from the 9 MHz distribution amplifier. This spectrum has the same huge peaks as the primary HG.

Keita and I looked at the noise from the ±15 V power supply, but we didn't see anything outrageous. As advised, we ac coupled the spectrum analyzer with 1 nF. The spectrum seemed to be roughly a few hundred nV/Hz1/2 out to a few megahertz, but we found it hard to get a clean measurement.

Non-image files attached to this comment
rich.abbott@LIGO.ORG - 10:52, Wednesday 02 September 2015 (21137)
I misspoke.  The offset frequency of PM or FM sidebands in a multiplied spectrum remains constant, but the sideband power scales with the multiplication factor.  

9.1MHz carrier (W) with sinusoidal sideband (Wm) before multiplication:
COS[W*t + A*SIN(Wm*t)]

Derivative of argument for angular Frequency:
W + A*Wm*COS(Wm*t)

After frequency multiplication of factor N:
N*W + N*A*Wm*COS(Wm*t)

Sideband frequency unchanged, power scaled by N

That being said, the sideband power is not scaling by N in the data I saw posted.  The carrier could still be amplitude modulated, but I don't see how it could be phase or frequency modulated.  Sorry for my earlier flawed theory on frequency multiplication.

If someone would please figure this out, I could do a much better job of warping theory to fit observation.

Conclusion:  There might be AM being induced on either on the 9.1MHz carrier, or somewhere inside the harmonic generator - for what little that does to help.

daniel.sigg@LIGO.ORG - 12:51, Wednesday 02 September 2015 (21144)

The direct RF spectrum of the 9.1MHz shows no side lopes at 1-2MHz offset. This describes the total power including both AM and FM sidebands. Odd harmonics generators are typically squaring up the fundamental and then filter out the desired frequency. So, they should be first order insensitive to AM.

rich.abbott@LIGO.ORG - 17:28, Wednesday 02 September 2015 (21159)
You are right about the limiting Daniel.  Evan saw sidebands on the OCXO input too.  I attach a plot of the 45.5, 91, and 135 MHz spectra frequency shifted for relative comparison (Data taken from earlier post).
Non-image files attached to this comment
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