This week I spent most of my time learning about how the interferometer is calibrated and working on the calibration itself. I also looked more into the Pound-Drever-Hall technique.

Continuing work on the free-swinging Michelson measurements, I changed the signal that I was using to C1:LSC-ASDC_OUT_DQ. This is a proper power signal so that the peak-to-peak amplitude of this error signal can be directly read off the graph. The motivation to measure this amplitude is that it must be known in order to calibrate the actuation of the input and end test masses.

Next I looked into using DTT to make some measurements. I ran the Michelson restore script in the IFO Configure screen to adjust the optics to be near alignment. Then I tweaked the precise settings in the IFO Align screen of pitch and yaw for the ITMX, ITMY, and BS. The goal with this was to minimize the magnitude of the C1:LSC-ASDC_OUT_DQ signal. After it was well-aligned, back in DTT I sent in a sine wave excitation and used a Triggered Time Response measurement to see the output. As a first test I put the excitation signal in the ASDC channel and I was able to plot the resulting OUT signal in DTT. The amplitude was different than I input due to gains between the excitation and the point of measurement, but this can easily be accounted for by adjusting the amplitude in DTT accordingly.

The next step is to work on measurements of a single arm cavity, introducing excitations there and measuring the response.