AS, KA, DH

As part of the HAM6 alignment work, we used OM1 to center the beam on OM2, and adjusted the OSEMs to the proper half-open-light values.

Thanks to the rotation of the septum window by Keita et al., the beam was well-centered on OM1 (see Koji's post on the new beam alignment in the chamber).  We had to perform some not-so-gentle manipulations of the pitch adjustment screw at the bottom of the mirror holder to get the OM1 mirror to pitch enough forward that the beam was centered on OM2.  In the end this required the use of an extra class-A nut to properly balance the mirror, and the removal of the tip-tilt's backplane (which holds the OSEMs) to allow us to access the mirror holder (and the screw hole) from the back.  There were some tense moments of tip-tilt frustration, but in the end the screw+nut combination was just right for the pitch adjustment.

Once the beam to OM2 was aligned we checked the OMEM DC values and adjusted LL and LR to center the flags.  The flag of the LL magnet is no longer touching the side of the OSEM (although it is close).  The attached spectrum shows the OSEM signals for OM1; the mirror is free, the damping works, the beam is in the right place, we are happy.

J. Kissel, K. Venkateswara

This morning I modified the laptop code to write two additional channels into aLIGO DAQ: One writes the tilt channel but with a lower gain such that it covers the entire range of the CCD. Obviously this doesn't reach the full sensitivity of the autocollimator but is useful as a diagnostic check on the DC position of the balance. The high-passed tilt channel doesn't give that information. The second channel, I added, writes the reference mirror position.

I also noticed today that the Ion pump current was at 0.48 mA this morning, whereas it was about 0.38 mA on Saturday evening. It continued to rise to about 0.58 mA by today evening but appears to be leveling off. It may be an effect of 'saturation' of the pump. We will know by tomorrow, when we look at the trend.

I also did a quick look at the data from the weekend and I've attached a couple of graphs. The first is from ~10k seconds on late Saturday night-early Sunday morning, when the ground was very quiet. There appears to be some excess noise in the BRS channel between 10 to 60 mHz, which is not tilt. Additionally, there are lines present at the harmonics of the beam resonance, due to small non-linearities in the read out. On Sunday night around 8:30 PM, there was an earthquake which shows up clearly in the T240 data, but is not visible in the BRS data. The second plot shows the ASD of 10k seconds during that period. This is preliminary and I'll do some better analysis soon.

(Koji, Dan, Alexa)

We first centered the beam on SR2 by adjusting SR3. We looked into HAM4 using the analog camera and we centered the beam around the aperature in front of SR2:

(SR3 original position: P 500 Y -150)

BOTTOM: P 513 Y -100

TOP: P 428 Y -100

RIGHT: P 464 Y -138

LEFT: P 464 Y -98

FINAL SR3: P 464 Y -118

Next, we adjusted SR2 to center the beam onto SRM/FI via the analog camera looking into HAM5:

BOTTOM: P 4154 Y 1770

TOP: P 599 Y 1770

LEFT: P 2376 Y 3420

RIGHT: P 2376 Y -100

FINAL SR2: P 2376, Y 1660

To fine tune SR2, we examined the beam in HAM6 and found the positions when the beam disppeared:

Dark  in pitch:

P 2546, Y 1660

P 2006, Y 1660

Dark in Yaw:

P 2276, Y 2061

P 2276, Y 1482

FINAL SR2: P 2276, Y 1771

In this configuration we measured the power in HAM6 to be 2.6mW with ~1600mW at the PSL periscope PD.

[Dave Arnaud]

Since the test stand for testing the 3rd IFO quads will be needed soon, we took a look at the h1susquadtst model, and succeded a 'make' after making some modifications to the model : 

1. grounded two tests inputs/outputs of the quad common part (wouldn't compile with unwired inputs)
2. grounded the DACKILL_STAT_OUT bit which enables ISI watchdogs (no ISI wired up, so no need for it)
3. Modified the Binary Input/Output parts (copied from itmy) with the new CBI-CB0 parts + hwwd (wouldn't compile with the old parts)

When the test stand will be wired up / turned on, h1susquadtst model will simply need a make install (follow instructions here)

New model was commited to the svn under revision 8555

Work on the PSL FSS and locking the IMC for HAM6 work
Journal club talk by Prof. Paik

08:26 Ed updating AI chassis in H2 building
08:32 Filiberto to end Y to look at ESD power supplies
08:33 Tim to end X for B&K hammer measurements
08:53 Jason starting work on SR3 optical lever
08:58 Nathan starting unattended work in the optics lab
09:05 Karen to mid Y to clean
09:13 Jeff K. to end X with Tim to work on B&K hammer measurements
09:44 Kyle to end X to work on vacuum equipment
09:44 Manny checking for property tags at the end stations
09:45 Richard and Filiberto to end Y to work on ESD
10:47 Travis to test stand area to retrieve parts for the staging building
10:47 Richard and Filiberto back from end Y
11:00 Keita done transitioning the LVEA to laser HAZARD
12:08 Karen back from mid Y
12:13 Richard to end Y to reinstall Comtrol box
12:14 Robert and Paul to Y beam tube enclosure
12:35 Richard back from end Y
13:25 Jeff K. and Tim to end X
13:55 Kyle to end Y
15:04 Kyle back from end Y
15:50 Nathan done unattended work in the optics lab

(Entry by Kyle) 

John, Kyle, Daniel

Today we finished roughing and transferred to the turbos (YBM, XBM, Vertex) -> I valved-out and spun down the Vertex turbo @ 1530 hrs. local -> Currently, the turbos are being backed by the QDP80 roots pumps -> Tomorrow, I'll switch to backing with the nominal small scroll pumps (these had been loaned to the Y-end for Rai's ionization apparatus)

(Daniel, Koji, Alexa)

The FSS was not stable again. We turned off the ISS and that seemed to fix the problem. We are leaving the ISS off so that we can work on HAM6. It still remains to debug what is wrong with the ISS.

The weather station at MY had not been giving data so the comtroller was removed. See log 13433.  It turned out to be the power supply for the comtroller.  The unit has been replaced and the software restarted.  Had to remember to boot the weather station to get it reconnected to the comtroller. 

So, apparently, the loss of a management network link causes the SataBoy controllers to fail, as evidenced by three simultaneous alarms when I powered off the management switch in preparation to swap it out.  Yay.  I have silenced the alarms, and so far C1 on each array appears to be working.  Message on serial console was 'Controller C0 has a firmware fault', and status LED was still green until I booted the switch, at which point the status LED went red and the serial console message changed to 'RAID controller 0 failed'.  More details to follow.

Keita, Kiwamu, Patrick,

Richard noticed that the PSL kept flickering once a minute or so. Looking at the PSL screens, we found that the FSS was unable to find a 00-mode. This kept unlocking the PMC because of the large temperature scan by the FSS auto-locker.

We changed the temperature scanning range from [-0.1 : 0.1] to [-0.2: 0] K. Immediately a 00-mode was found slightly below -0.1 K. This is why the FSS was unable to find it. Now the FSS seems happy.

Also, Keita and Patrick took at look at trend of some PSL temperature sensors. There was a clear coherence between the NPRO locking point in its temperature and the PSL room temperature. According to a sensor, the room temperature dropped from 73 to 71.5 F over the past month.

Doug working on optical lever for SR3
HAM6 fine alignment waiting for vacuum
tiltmeter hardware installed, analyzing data
charging measurements moving to end X
B & K hammering at end X

Pressure still at 0.77 Torr. Roughing valves opened at 0730.

no restarts reported

Entry by Kyle

T. MacDonald, J. Kissel

Initial measurements of the H1EX piers and floor were taken on 8-15-14 to establish that the B&K system and accelerometers were functioning as expected. These were done with a B&K 4506 
accelerometer on each north edge of the top of north side piers, and another on the north side of the chamber about 5 ft from the top. The B&K 8340 accelerometer was centered under the beam tube 
and 1 ft north of the center line between the north piers. During these measurements, no features were found near 8 Hz.

There were some concerns about the coherence of the 4506 accelerometers at 8 Hz, which was generally below 0.5. The 8340 accelerometer coherence was much better, so on 8-16-15 it was mounted on the 
top of the northeast pier next to one of the 4506s. Measurements were taken again at several points on the ground and the pier, with still no features at 8 Hz. However, an impact on the crossbeam
showed a clear feature in the frequency response at 8 Hz. To characterize this response, a full set of measurements was taken around the floor and along the pier and crossbeam. Results were
consistent and key measurements are outlined. Full results and files are also available on the SVN at https://svn.ligo.caltech.edu/svn/seismic/Common/PierMotionStudy/EXH1/20140816.

Following these measurements, the 8340 was moved to the crossbeam and a measurement sequence covering the full north side was created to examine floor motion and mode shapes of the structure. These measurements
were completed and further analysis will follow. More extensive measurements of all four piers will also be completed.

(John W, Daniel S, Keita K)

The viewport on the HAM5/6 septum was rotated by 120 degree clockwise. Torqued to 16 lbs.foot as per the spec. We didn't have to use a new O-ring as the old one was intact.