Tonight I noticed that the drop in PMC transmission was ~1V, more than the usual of ~0.5V from the daily drift.

While re-aligning on the table, I noticed that the misalignment was not from either of the steering mirrors; i.e. I has to walk them both to get the alignment back. This implies that the misalignment is generated far upstream. Maybe the the laser itself is moving. We need some updates from Steve's laser misalignment tracker.

Den and I spent some time with the interferometer last night with hopes of bringing in the AO path, but were stymied by the (re)occurrence of the anomalously high low frequency motion of the Xarm, as seen by fluctuations of TRX from .9 to .2 while "held" on resonance.

Jenne reported that they weren't seeing it earlier in the evening, and then it started again when I showed up. Holding the arms on IR, we could see a fair amount of excess low frequency noise in the BEATX_FINE_PHASE_OUT_HZ channel, as compared to BEATY, bringing its RMS to 5 times that of the Y arm. From the shape of the excess noise (broad slope from DC to tens of Hz), Rana suspected air currents and/or scattering effects being the culprit.

Den poked around a bit on the PSL table, which didn't really change much. He then went down to the X end table to inspect the table, and while he was there, I noticed the noise go down to being in line with the Yarm. I joined him at the end, and we found the beat phase noise in the frequency region of concern to be hugely sensitive to tapping on the enclosure, air current, etc. There is also a ton of green light everywhere, and multiple spots of green light around the green refl PD.

At that point however, the quiescent noise was acceptable (TRX fluctuations of <.2), so we went back to the control room to try to lock. Unfortunately, after a few attempts, the noise was back. At this point, we went home. The layout of the end table likely needs some attention to try and minimize our susceptibility to excess scatter effects. 

 ETMX oplev qpd gain has to be increased.

Anodized aluminum dumps replaced by 6 razor beam dumps.

Two more razor beam dumps added this afternoon.   The picture will updated tomorrow.

 There are 9 razor beam dumps at ETMY-ISCT

Also, while I was working on the PSL table, I heard noise that sounded like a bearing rolling around.  I suspected the HEPAs, since the one on the north east corner of the table has a problem when it's turned up high (we've known about this for a long time), however turning off the HEPAs didn't affect the noise.  The noise is strongest near the back of the PSL controller on the shelf above the table, and the PSL controller box is vibrating.  So, I suspect that the fan on the PSL controller box is about to give out.

EDIT:  To clarify, I mean the Innolight's controller.

  The 4th week of no wet mopping of the floor  and no wet wiping  the vacuum envelope.

We cleaned the intakes of the south arm IFO air condition. The bottom duct have quite a bit accumulation Atm1

See wet wiped contrast on Atm2

We found 3 holes around pipes ( coming from CES ) on the east wall that has to be sealed.

After closer examination of these holes, they are sealed off well.

 I have brought back c1auxex and c1auxey.  Hopefully this elog will have some more details to add to Rana's elog 10015, so that in the end, we have the whole process documented.

The old Dell computer was already in a Minicom session, so I didn't have to start that up - hopefully it's just as easy as opening the program.

I plugged the DB9-RJ45 cable into the top of the RJ45 jacks on the computers.  Since the aux end station computers hadn't had their bootChanges done yet, the prompt was "VxWorks Boot" (or something like that).  For a computer that was already configured, for example the psl machine, the prompt was "c1psl", the name of the machine.  So, the indication that work needs to be done is either you get the Boot prompt, or the computer starts to hang while it's trying to load the operating system (since it's not where the computer expects it to be).  If the computer is hanging, key the crate again to power cycle it.  When it gets to the countdown that says "press any key to enter manual boot" or something like that, push some key.  This will get you to the "VxWorks Boot" prompt. 

Once you have this prompt, press "?" to get the boot help menu.  Press "p" to print the current boot parameters (the same list of things that you see with the bootChange command when you telnet in).  Press "c" to go line-by-line through the parameters with the option to change parameters.  I discovered that you can just type what you want the parameter to be next to the old value, and that will change the value.  (ex.  "host name   : linux1   chiara"   will change the host name from the old value of linux1 to the new value that you just typed of chiara). 

After changing the appropriate parameters (as with all the other slow computers, just the [host name] and the [host inet] parameters needed changing), key the crate one more time and let it boot.  It should boot successfully, and when it has finished and given you the name for the prompt (ex. c1auxex), you can just pull out the RJ45 end of the cable from the computer, and move on to the next one.

 The bearing is chirping in the back of the 2W Innolight laser controller. It is loud enough to hear it. I placed 4 soft  rubber feet under the controller to avoid shaking other things on self.

The HEPA filter bearing becomes noisy at 50V

 Keep it at 20V for low noise

This morning valve condition: V1, VM1, V4 and V5 valves were closed. IFO pressure rose to 1.3 mTorr

It was caused by low N2 pressure.  Our vacuum valves are moved-controlled by 60-70 PSI of nitrogen.

When this supply drops below 50-60 PSI the interlock closes V1 valve. This is the minimum pressure required to move the large valves.

It is our responsibility to check the N2 cylinder pressure supply.

The vacuum valve configuration is back to VAC. NORMAL,  CC1  4.8E-6 Torr

PS: Bob says that the second cylinder was full this morning, but the auto-switch over did not happen.

 The floor is mopped again with strong PEST CONTROL SOLUTION in water in the Vertex area.

Do not plane to work in the IFO-room till noon if you are sensitive to chemicals!

 The bearing is chirping in the back of the 2W Innolight laser controller. It is loud enough to hear it. I placed 4 soft  rubber feet under the controller to avoid shaking other things on self.

The HEPA filter bearing becomes noisy at 50V

 Keep it at 20V for low noise

[Koji, Manasa]

The air flow from the dying fan was kinda weak and we decided to give a help with an external fan.

Koji brought a fan taken from a junk found at EE shop in W.Bridge.
The fan has been tied to the cage of the existing fan using cable ties to provide air circulation.
So even if the existing one dies anytime, we still don't super-heat anything.
The power supply for the fan rests next to the controller. 

The air from the fan ventilation was hot, and now with the additional fan this hot air is actually sucked
out with stronger flow. So this is relieving for now.

 The bearing is chirping in the back of the 2W Innolight laser controller. It is loud enough to hear it. I placed 4 soft  rubber feet under the controller to avoid shaking other things on self.

The HEPA filter bearing becomes noisy at 50V

 Keep it at 20V for low noise

I was investigating several issues on the IFO. As many of you noticed and not elogged, ITMX had frequent kicking without its oplev servo.
Also I had C1:LSC-TRY_OUT flatted out to zero even though I could see some fringes C1:SUS-ETMY_TRY_OUT.

Restarted all of the realtime models (no machine reboot).

Now I don't find any beam on REFL/AS/POP cameras.

If I look at BS-PRM camera, I can see big scattering, the beam is in the BS chamber.
I jiggled TT1 but cannot find neither a Michelson fringe nor POP beam.

So far I can't figure out what has happened but I'm leaving the lab now.

IMC is locked fine.
I can see some higher order mode of the Yarm green, so the Y arm alignment is no so far from the correct one.

The SRM qpd was moved to accommodate the HeNe laser qualification test for LIGO Oplev use.

The qpd was saturating at 65,000 counts of 3 mW

ND1 filter lowering the power by 10 got rid of saturation. I epoxied an adapter ring to the qpd.

Atm3 was taken before saturation was realized with Koji's help.

Atm4 ND1 on SRM qpd. Now it is working and everything is moving.

The SRM qpd was moved to accommodate the HeNe laser qualification test for LIGO Oplev use.

The qpd was saturating at 65,000 counts of 3 mW

ND1 filter lowering the power by 10 got rid of saturation. I epoxied an adapter ring to the qpd.

Atm3 was taken before saturation was realized with Koji's help.

Atm4 ND1 on SRM qpd. Now it is working and everything is moving.

Here's the sequence of the morning so far:

• I aligned the IFO (IR arms with ASS, X green with PZTs, PRM with PRMI locked on REFL33)
• I closed the PSL shutter, and went inside to align PRM and both ITM oplevs (all others were within 10urad of zero in both directions)
• While aligning those oplevs, I noticed the smell of burnt electronics. We tracked it down to the +15V sorensen in the rack nearest the PSL table
  • I claim the precipitating event was PSL shutter activity. If I recall correctly, the seismic rainbow traces went bonkers around the same time as the shutter was closed. There is a Guralp interface in the rack powered by the failed sorensen, so this would explain the erratic seismometer signals correlated with the power supply failure. We will look into potential shorts caused by the shutter. (Steve looked up the PMC trans and Guralp DQ channels, and confirmed the temporal coincidence of the events.)
• We shut off all of the sorensens so that electronics were not being driven asymmetrically. 
• Steve and I secured the vacuum system for computer reboots, as referred to in Steve's elog. Some combination of Jenne, Rana and Manasa shut down the control room computers, and turned off the watchdogs. 
• Manasa and I moved Chiara inside, next to Mafalda, along with its backup HDs. It has been labeled. 
• Booted up control room machines, they came up happy. 
• FB and front-ends didn't need reboot, for some lucky reason. Watchdogs came back happily, oplev spots didn't move noticeably. 

The IFO is still down, as the PMC won't lock without the rack power, and we haven't pinned down the shorting mechanism. We don't want the replacement sorensen to immediately blow when plugged in. 

Here's the sequence of the morning so far:

• I aligned the IFO (IR arms with ASS, X green with PZTs, PRM with PRMI locked on REFL33)
• I closed the PSL shutter, and went inside to align PRM and both ITM oplevs (all others were within 10urad of zero in both directions)
• While aligning those oplevs, I noticed the smell of burnt electronics. We tracked it down to the +15V sorensen in the rack nearest the PSL table
  • I claim the precipitating event was PSL shutter activity. If I recall correctly, the seismic rainbow traces went bonkers around the same time as the shutter was closed. There is a Guralp interface in the rack powered by the failed sorensen, so this would explain the erratic seismometer signals correlated with the power supply failure. We will look into potential shorts caused by the shutter. (Steve looked up the PMC trans and Guralp DQ channels, and confirmed the temporal coincidence of the events.)
• We shut off all of the sorensens so that electronics were not being driven asymmetrically. 
• Steve and I secured the vacuum system for computer reboots, as referred to in Steve's elog. Some combination of Jenne, Rana and Manasa shut down the control room computers, and turned off the watchdogs. 
• Manasa and I moved Chiara inside, next to Mafalda, along with its backup HDs. It has been labeled. 
• Booted up control room machines, they came up happy. 
• FB and front-ends didn't need reboot, for some lucky reason. Watchdogs came back happily, oplev spots didn't move noticeably. 

The IFO is still down, as the PMC won't lock without the rack power, and we haven't pinned down the shorting mechanism. We don't want the replacement sorensen to immediately blow when plugged in. 

 SRM as set up in Atm4  26,000 count compared with ETMY oplev servo in operation 7,500 counts for 3 days

Next steps: measure beam size at qpd,

                  place qpd on translation stage for calibration,

                  change 1103P mount to single one