Purpose

We're putting together a box to go into the 1X2 rack, to facilitate the frequency counters, and Raspberry Pi that will be used in FOL.

Separately, I am working on characterizing the Polarization Extinction Ratio of the PM980 fibers, for further use in FOL.

What's Been Done

The frequency counters have been mounted on the face of the box, and nylon spacers installed in the bottom, which will insulate the RPi in the future, once it's finally installed.

In regard to the PER setup, there is an issue, in that the mounts which hold the collimators rotate, so as to align the axes of the fibers with the polarization of the incoming light.

This rotational degree of freedom, however, isn't "sticky" enough, and rotates under the influence of the stress in the fiber. (It's not much, but enough.)

This causes wild fluctuations in coupled power, making it impossible to make accurate measurements of PER.

What's Next

In the FOL box's case, we've ordered a longer power cable for the raspberry pi (the current one is ~9 inches long).

Once it arrives, we will install the RPi, and move the box into its place in the rack.

In the case of the PER measurement, we've ordered more collimator mounts//adapters, which will hopefully give better control over rotation.