ID |
Date |
Author |
Type |
Category |
Subject |
99
|
Fri Apr 5 18:18:36 2013 |
Zach | Optics | Configuration | AOM probably broken |
Quote: |
Then, I started to check the AOM path. I noticed that the 1st (or -1st) order beam is very weak.
The deflection efficiency is ~0.1%. Something is wrong.
I checked the driver. The driver's coupler output (1:10) show the amplitude ~1V. (good)
I check the main output by reducing the offset. When the coupler output is 100mV, the main output was 1V. (good)
So is the AOM itself broken???
|
As Koji noticed that the AOM efficiency was very low, I figured I would try looking at it with a fresh set of eyes. The end result is that I have to agree that the AOM appears to be broken.
First, I measured the input impedance of the AOM using the AG4395A with the impedance test kit (after calibrating). The plot is below. The spec sheet says the center frequency is 200 MHz, at which Zin should be ~50 ohms. It crosses 50 ohms somewhere near 235 MHz, which may be reasonable given that the LC circuit can be tuned by hand. However, it does surprise me that the impedance varies so much over the specified RF range of ±50 MHz. Maybe this is an indication that something is bad.

I removed the cover of the modulator (which I think Koji did, as well) and all the connections looked as I imagine they should---i.e., there was nothing obviously broken, physically.
I then tried my hand at realigning the AOM from scratch by removing and replacing it. I was not able to get better than 0.15%, which is roughly what Koji got.
So, perhaps our best course of action is to decide what we expect the Zin spectrum to look like, and whether that agrees with the above measurement. |
90
|
Mon Apr 1 10:28:03 2013 |
Koji | Mechanics | General | Additional UV blast for the top surface |
[Koji, Lisa, Jeff, Zach]
Jeffs concern after talking with the glue company (EMI) was that the UV blast for the top side was not enough.
First we wanted to confirm if too much blasting is any harmful for the glue joint.
We took a test joint of FS-FS with the UV epoxy. We blasted the UV for 1min with ~15mm distance from the joint.
After the observation of the joint, we continued to blast more.
In total, we gave additional 5min exposure. No obvious change was found on the joint.

Then proceed to blast the OMC top again. We gave 1 min additional blast on each glue joint.

|
348
|
Fri Apr 19 09:35:28 2019 |
Joe | General | | Adjusting cavity axis, re-alignment of OMC and locking |
[koji,philip, joe, liyuan, steven]
*still need to add photos to post*
PZT 11 was removed and inspected for so dust/dirt on the bottom of the prism. We saw a spot. We tried to remove this with acetone, but it stayed there. (Attachment 2, see the little white spec near the edge of the bottom surface of the prism)
current micrometer positions:
- CM1: one closest to centre 11, close to edge 35 marking
- CM2: both at 20 marking
Swapped PZT for PZT 22, cleaned the bottom and put it into position of CM1. We saw a low number of newton rings, so this is good.
We got a rough initial alignment by walking the beam with the periscope and PZT 22 mirrors. Once we saw a faint amount of transmission, we set up the wincam at the output. The reflected light from the cavity could also be seen to be flashing as the laser frequency was being modulated.
Once it was roughly aligned, using the persicope we walked the beam until we got good 00 flashes. We checked the positions of the spots on the mirror with the beam card. This looked a lot better in the verticle direction (very near the centre) on both curved mirrors. We locked the cavity and contiued to align it better. This was done with the periscope until the DC error signal was about 0.6V. We switched to the fibre coupler after this.
Once we were satisfied that he cavity was near where it would be really well aligned, we took some images of the spot positions. Using these we can work out which way to move the curved mirrors. Koji worked this out and drew some diagrams, we should attach them to this post. [Diagram: See Attachment 1 of ELOG OMC 350]
We made the corrections to the cavity mirrors
- CM1: one closest to centre 11, close to edge 35+16 marking
- CM2: I can't remember exactly, Koji created a diagram which would help explain this step [Diagram: See Attachment 2 of ELOG OMC 350]
The scatter from CM1 looked very small, it was hard to see with a viewer or CCD. We had to turn up the laser power by a factor of 3 to begin to see it, indicating that this is a good mirror.
Once this was done, the spot positions looked uch nearer the centre of each mirror. They look pitched 1mm too high, which might be because of the bottom surfaces of the prisms having a piece of dust on them? For now though it was good enough to try take the detuned locking FSR measurement and RFAM measurement.
To see the higher order mode spacing, we misaligned them incoming beam in pitch and yaw so that the TM10 and TM01 modes were excited. The cavity transmission beam was aligned onto the photodiode such that we could make a transfer function measurement (i.e. shift the beam along the photodiode so that only half of the beam was on it, this maximises the amount of photocurrent).
attachment 1 shows the fitting of the detuned locking method for measuring FSR and cavity length/
I saved this data on my laptop. When I next edit this post (hopefully I will before monday, although I might be too tired from being a tourist in california...) I want to upload plots of the higher order mode spacing.
|
109
|
Fri Apr 12 09:25:31 2013 |
Koji | Optics | Characterization | Alignment of the OMC (without glue) |
[Zach Koji]
The first attempt not to touch the curved mirrors did not work. (Not surprising)
The eigenmode is not found on the mirror surface.
We decided to touch the micrometers and immediately found the resonance.
Then the cavity alignment was optimized by the input steering mirrors.
We got the cavity length L and f_TMS/f_FSR (say gamma, = gouy phase / (2 pi) ) as
L=1.1347 m (1.132m nominal)
gamma_V = 0.219176 (0.21879 nominal)
gamma_H = 0.219418 (0.21939 nominal)
This was already sufficiently good:
- the 9th modes of the carrier is away from the resonance 10-11 times
of the line width (LW)
- the 13th modes of the lower f2 sideband are 9-10 LW away
But
- the 19th modes of the upper f2 sideband are 1-3 LW away
This seems to be the most dangerous ones.
and
- The beam spots on the curved mirrors are too marginal
So we decided to shorten the cavity round-trip 2.7mm (= 0.675mm for each micrometer)
and also use the curved mirrors to move the eigenmode toward the center of the curved mirrors.
After the movement the new cavity length was 1.13209 m.
The spot positions on the curved mirrors are ~1mm too close to the outside of the cavity.
So we shortened the outer micrometers by 8um (0.8 div).
This made the spot positions perfect. We took the photos of the spots with a IR sensor card.
The measured cavity geometry is (no data electrically recorded)
L=1.13207 m (1.132m nominal, FSR 264.8175MHz)
gamma_V = 0.218547 (0.21879 nominal, 57.8750MHz)
gamma_H = 0.219066 (0.21939 nominal, 58.0125MHz)
- the 9th modes of the carrier is 11-13 LW away
- the 13th modes of the lower f2 sideband are 5-8 LW away
- the 19th modes of the upper f2 sideband are 4-8 LW away
The raw transmission is 94.4%. If we subtract the sidebands and
the junk light contribution, the estimated transmission is 97.6%.
Note:
Even if a mirror is touched (i.e. misaligned), we can recover the good alignment by pushing the mirror
onto the fixture. The fixture works pretty well!
|
359
|
Thu May 9 17:35:07 2019 |
Koji | Optics | General | Alignment strategy |
Notes on the OMC cavity alignment strategy
- x3=1.17 γ + 1.40 δ, x4=1.40 γ + 1.17 δ
- This means that the effect of the two curved mirrors (i.e. gouy phases) are very similar. To move x3 and x4 in common is easy, but to do differentially is not simple.
- 1div of a micrometer is 10um. This corresponds to the angular motion of 0.5mrad (10e-6/20e-3 = 5e-4). ~0.5mm spot motion.
- ~10um displacement of the mirror longitudinal position has infinitesimal effect on the FSR. Just use either micrometer (-x side).
- 1div of micrometer motion is just barely small enough to keep the cavity flashing. => Easier alignment recovery. Larger step causes longer time for the alignment recovery due to the loss of the flashes.
- After micrometer action, the first move should be done by the bottom mirror of the periscope. And this is the correct direction for beam walking.
- If x3 should be moved more than x4, use CM2, and vise versa.
- If you want to move x3 to +x and keep x4 at a certain place, 1) Move CM2 in (+). This moves x3 and x4 but x3>x4. 2) Compensate x4 by turning CM1 in (-). This returnes x4 to the original position (approximately), but leave x3 still moved. Remember the increment is <1div of a micrometer and everytime the cavity alignment is lost, recover it before loosing the flashes. |
189
|
Mon Jun 23 21:54:16 2014 |
Koji | Optics | General | All of the gluing completed |
The bottom-side templates were removed.
The last beam dump was removed
TODO
ICS entry
Bring the OMC to the bake lab
Vacuum baking
Bring it back to the OMC lab
Cabling / Wiring
VIbratin test
Optical tests
Backscattering test
Packing / Shipping
|
188
|
Fri Jun 20 18:59:12 2014 |
Koji | Optics | General | All of the invar blocks have been glued |
All of the INVAR blocks have been glued.
I found thinner shims in the stock.
On Monday, the template will be removed.
EP30-2 7g mixed with 0.35g of 75-90um sphere
TODO
EP30-2 gluing of the INVAR blocks for the PDs
PDs/QPDs need to be slightly lower -> order more shims
Remove the templates
Glue the last beam dump
Vibration test?
Bring the OMC to the bake lab
Vacuum baking
Bring it back to the OMC lab
Cabling / Wiring
Optical tests
Backscattering test
Packing / Shipping |
187
|
Thu Jun 19 23:16:50 2014 |
Koji | Optics | General | All of the prisms have been glued |
- All of the PRISM mirrors have been glued
- 4 out of 5 beam dumps have been glued
TODO
EP30-2 gluing of the INVAR blocks for the PDs
PDs/QPDs need to be slightly lower -> order more shims
Remove the templates
Glue the last beam dump
Vibration test?
Bring the OMC to the bake lab
Vacuum baking
Bring it back to the OMC lab
Cabling / Wiring
Optical tests
Backscattering test
Packing / Shipping

|
55
|
Fri Jan 18 13:25:17 2013 |
Koji | Optics | Configuration | Autocollimator calibration |
An autocollimator (AC) should show (0,0) if a retroreflector is placed in front of the AC.
However, the AC may have an offset. Also the retroreflector may not reflect the beam back with an exact parallelism.
To calibrate these two errors, the autocollimator is calibrated. The retroreflector was rotated by 0, 90, 180, 270 deg
while the reticle position are monitored. The images of the autocollimator were taken by my digital camera looking at the eyepiece of the AC.
Note that 1 div of the AC image corresponds to 1arcmin.
Basically the rotation of the retroreflector changed the vertical and horizontal positions of the reticle pattern by 0.6mdeg and 0.1mdeg
(2 and 0.4 arcsec). Therefore the parallelism of the retrorefrector is determined to be less than an arcsec. This is negligibly good for our purpose.
The offset changes by ~1div in a slanted direction if the knob of the AC, whose function is unknown, is touched.
So the knob should be locked, and the offset should be recorded before we start the actual work every time. |
54
|
Wed Jan 16 14:10:50 2013 |
Koji | Optics | Characterization | Autocollimator tests of optics perpendicularity/parallelism |
The items:
- Autocollimator (AC) borrowed from Mike Smith (Nippon Kogaku model 305, phi=2.76", 67.8mm)
- Retroreflector (corner cube)
- Two V grooves borrowed from the 40m
Procedure:
- Autocollimator calibration
o Install the AC on a optical table
o Locate the corner cube in front of the AC.
o Adjust the focus of the AC so that the reflected reticle pattern can be seen.
o If the retroreflection and the AC are perfect, the reference reticle pattern will match with the reflected reticle pattern.
o Measure the deviation of the reflected reticle from the center.
o Rotate the retroreflector by 90 deg. Measure the deviation again.
o Repeat the process until total four coordinates are obtained.
o Analysis of the data separates two types of the error:
The average of these four coordinates gives the systematic error of the AC itself.
The vector from the center of the circle corresponds to the error of the retroreflector.
- Wedge angle measurement
To be continued |
257
|
Sat Mar 26 18:22:24 2016 |
Koji | Electronics | Characterization | Baking / Contamination tests of the PDs |
For the production of the aLIGO PDs, the following transfer of the PDs were carried out
A1-23 Cage A1 -> G1
A1-25 Cage A2 -> G2
The cage A will be baked at 75degC to see if this improves AMU=64 emission.
At the same time, we will put C1-05 (F1) and C1-07 (F2) into the contamination test cavity. |
259
|
Tue Apr 5 18:22:40 2016 |
Koji | Electronics | Characterization | Baking / Contamination tests of the PDs |
Possible reduction of the QE was observed after air-bake at 75degC.
Yesterday I received Cage G from Bob for intermediate test of the PD performance after air bake but before vacuum bake.
This cage was prepared to be the production pair.
According to the ICS, https://ics-redux.ligo-la.caltech.edu/JIRA/browse/Bake-8047
the PDs were air baked at 75degC for 48 hours.
I took the PDs to my lab to check if there is any issue in terms of the performance.
- Dark current: No change observed
- Dark noise: No noise increase observed
- QE: Probably reduced by ~0.5%.
Here I attached the result of the QE measurement. I have measured the QEs of the baked ones (A1-23 and A1-25) and the reference. Since the reference PD has not been baked, this gives us the measure of the systematic effect. The reference showed the reduction of ~0.1%. Assuming this reduction came from the systematic effect of the measurement system, I observed at least 0.5% QE reduction (A1-23). Note that the previous measurement of 99.8% for A1-25 was too high and dubious. But both A1-23 and A1-25 showed ~0.4% lower QEs.
So I believe the air-baking process reduced the QE.
Another evidence was that now I could clearly see the beam spots on these air-baked-PDs with an IR viewer when the PDs were illuminated with a 1064nm beam. Usually it is difficult to see the spot on the PD. The spot on the reference PD was still dark. So this difference was very obvious. I was afraid that something has been deposited on the surface of the photosensitive element. The surface of the diodes looked still very clean when they were checked with a green LED flash light. |
194
|
Wed Jul 2 18:58:42 2014 |
Koji | General | General | Beam dump delamination |
While the OMC breadboard was being inspected, it was found that two out of five black-glass beam dumps showed sign of delamination.
(attached photos).
The base of the each beam dump is a fused silica disk (25mm dia.). The black glass pieces are bonded to the disk. The bond is EP30-2
epoxy without glass beads for bond lining. The disk is bonded on the fused silica bread board with Optocast UV low-viscous epoxy.
The delamination is about 70% of the bonded area. They don't seem to fall off immediately. But the glass pieces are not completely secure.
(i.e. finger touch can change the newton ring fringes) So there might be some risk of falling off during transportation.
The engineering team and I are exploring the way to secure them in-situ, including the method to apply UV epoxy with capillary action.
|
195
|
Thu Jul 3 17:45:18 2014 |
Koji | General | General | Beam dump delamination |
Here is the resolution.
I'll apply fillets of EP30-2 along the edges of the black glass (See figure).
In order to allow the air escape from the gap, the inside of the V will not be painted.
In any case, I don't have a good access to the interior of the V.
Dennis assured that the outgassing level will be ok even if the EP30-2 is cured at the room temp if the mixture is good.
But just in case, we should run an RGA scan (after 50degC for 24hour vac bake).
I prefer to do this RGA scan right after all of the test and cabling and right before the shipment.
Dennis is checking if we can even waive the RGA scan owing to the small volume of the glue.

|
87
|
Fri Mar 29 08:55:00 2013 |
Zach | Optics | Configuration | Beam launched into fiber |
Quote: |
Lisa and I concurred that it felt like we had converged to the optimum alignment and polarization, which would mean that the lack of coupling is all from mode mismatch. Since the input mode is well collimated, it seems unlikely that we could be off enough to only get ~1% coupling. One possibility is that the collimator is not well attached to the fiber itself. Since the Rayleigh range within it is very small, any looseness here can be critical.
|
My hypothesis about the input-side collimator turned out to be correct.
I removed the fiber from the collimator and mount at the input side, and then injected the illuminator beam from this side. Since we already saw a nice (but dim) IR beam emerging from the output side the other night, it followed that that collimator was correctly attached. With the illuminator injected from the input side, I also saw a nice, collimated red beam emerging from the output. So, the input collimator was not properly attached during our previous attempts, leading to the abysmal coupling.
The problem is that the mount does not allow you to remove and reattach the fiber while the collimator is already attached, and the dimensions make it hard to fit your fingers in to tighten the fiber to the collimator once the collimator is in the mount. I disassembled the mount and found a way to attach/reattach the fiber that preserves the tight collimator contact. I will upload a how-to shortly.
With this fix, I was able to align the input beam and get decent coupling:
EOM path: ~70%
AOM path: ~50% |
97
|
Thu Apr 4 23:44:52 2013 |
Koji | Optics | Configuration | Beam launched into fiber |
We had to move our flipper mirror to share the beam between Peter's setup and ours as our flipper is at the place where the ISS PD array base is supposed to be!
There was no place to insert the flipper in the setup. We (Peter and Koji) decided to move the laser back for ~2".
This entirely changed the alignment of the setup. The fiber coupler was my reference of the alignment.
Once the beam is aligned, I check the coupling to the fiber. It was 50%.
I tweaked the lens and eventually the coupling is improved to 83%. (24.7mW incident, 20.4mW obtained.)
Then, I started to check the AOM path. I noticed that the 1st (or -1st) order beam is very weak.
The deflection efficiency is ~0.1%. Something is wrong.
I checked the driver. The driver's coupler output (1:10) show the amplitude ~1V. (good)
I check the main output by reducing the offset. When the coupler output is 100mV, the main output was 1V. (good)
So is the AOM itself broken??? |
386
|
Fri Dec 6 00:55:25 2019 |
Koji | Optics | General | Beamdump gluing |
[Stephen, Koji]
20 glass beamdumps were bonded at the 40m cleanroom.
Attachment 1: We had 20 fused silica disks with a V-groove and 40 black glass pieces
Attachment 2: The black glass pieces had (usual) foggy features. It is well known to be very stubborn. We had to use IPA/acetone and wiping with pressure. Most of the feature was removed, but we could still see some. We decided to use the better side for the inner V surfaces.
Attachment 3: EP30-2 expiration date was 1/22/2020 👍. 7.66g of EP30-2 was poured and 0.38g of glass sphere was added. Total glue weight was 8.04g
Attachment 4: Glue test piece was baked at 200F in a toaster oven for ~12min. It had no stickiness. It was totally crisp. 👍👍👍
Attachment 5: Painted glue on the V-groove and put the glass pieces in. Then gave a dub of blue at the top and bottom of the V from the outside. In the end, we mostly had the glue went through the V part due to capillary action.
Attachment 6: The 20 BDs were stored in stainless vats. We looked at them for a while to confirm there is no drift and opening of the V part. Because the air bake oven was not available at the time, we decided to leave the assys there for the room temp curing, and then later bake them for the completion of the curing.
|
76
|
Sat Mar 23 02:41:00 2013 |
Koji | Optics | General | Black glass beam dumps for the first OMC |
Received black glass beam dumps from MIT
- gluing by EP30-2 looks pretty fine. Enough sturdy.
- some gap visible between the glass => incident angle should be considered so that the first beam does not exit from the gap
- Dusts are visible on the glass surface. Some have a lot, the other have less. But every piece still needs to be wiped. |
283
|
Sat Jul 1 15:29:57 2017 |
Koji | Optics | General | Black glass cleaning / Final bonding for the emergency repair for OMC #002 |
[Alena, Koji]
Report of the work on June 30.
1. Cleaning of the black glass beam dumps
As reported in the previous entry, the beam dumps on the OMC breadboard exhibited accumulation of dusts or contaminants on the black glass surfaces. We worried about transfer of the dusts over a period or of the contaminant during baking. It was already known that the contaminants are persistent and not easy to remove only by drag wiping with IPA. So Alena brought a set fo tools to try. Here is the procedure described.
- Inventory (Attachment 1): A small glass beaker, TX715 Alpha® Sampling Swab, plastic brushes, syringes with pure IPA, inspection flash light, Vectra IPA soaked wipes
- Apply clean IPA on a brush. Some IPA should be removed by the IPA soaked wipe so as not to splash IPA everywhere. Rub a glass surface with the brush while the surface is inspected by the flash light. The strokes migrate the contaminants to the direction of wiping. So the brush should be moved outward. This does some cleaning, but it is not enough to remove smudges on the surface. Occasionally clean the brush with IPA poured in the small beaker.
- Apply clean IPA on a swab. Rub the surface with the swab outward. This removes most of the visible smudges.
We decided not to apply FirstContact on the beam dumps at this occasion. In any case, we need to apply FC on all the optical surfaces after the baking. We judged that the current cleanliness level of the beam dump does not affect the over all contamination of the OMC considering the FC application after the baking.
2. Gluing of the reinforcement Al bars on the delaminated Invar mounting brackets
One of the mounting bracket (=invar shim) on the top side (= suspension I/F side) showed the sign of delamination (Attachment 3). This invar is the one at the beam entrance side (Attachment 2).
EP30-2 was mixed as usual: 6g of EP30-2 was mixed with 0.3g glass sphere. The glue was tested with a cooking oven and the result was perfect. The glue was applied to two Al bars and the bars were attached on the long sides of the invar shim with the beveled corner down (to avoid stepping on the existing original epoxy) (Attachments 4, 5). The photo quality by my phone was not great. I will take better photos with a better camera next week.
Glue condition was checked on Monday Jul 3rd. It was all good. New photos were taken. OMC #002 Repair - Gluing of reinforcement AL bars |
419
|
Thu Jul 21 14:35:35 2022 |
Koji | General | General | Bond reinforcement blocks for the invar brackets |
Bond reinforcement blocks for the invar brackets:
- Attachment 1: CLASS A glass prisms (the surplus of the 2016 repair)
- Attachment 2: Dirty reiforcement bars made of Aluminum
- There are also many dirty prisms in the kit obtained from Stephen
|
529
|
Wed Apr 26 14:43:44 2023 |
Stephen | General | Loan / Lending | Borrowed Items for PZT DC Response Shadow Sensor Setup |
Borrowed for PZT DC Response Shadow Sensor Setup (see Attachment 1):
- Thorlabs PDA100A Photodiode (and power supply)
- Thorlabs MDT694B Piezo Driver
Current Location: Downs 227 |
538
|
Fri May 12 10:00:06 2023 |
Camille Makarem | General | Loan / Lending | Borrowed Items for PZT DC Response Shadow Sensor Setup |
The ThorLabs MDT694B piezo driver was returned to the OMC lab.
Quote: |
Borrowed for PZT DC Response Shadow Sensor Setup (see Attachment 1):
- Thorlabs PDA100A Photodiode (and power supply)
- Thorlabs MDT694B Piezo Driver
Current Location: Downs 227
|
|
385
|
Tue Oct 22 15:54:59 2019 |
Koji | Electronics | Loan / Lending | Borrowed LB1005 from Cryo Cav |
From Cryo Cav setup
Borrowed LB1005 Servo box -> OMC
|
343
|
Tue Apr 16 23:11:43 2019 |
Koji | General | General | Borrowed items from the other labs |
Apr 16, 2019
Borrowed two laser goggles from the 40m. (Returned Apr 29, 2019)
Borrowed small isopropanol glass bottole from CTN.
Apr 19, 2019
Borrowed from the 40m:
- Universal camera mount
- 50mm CCD lens
- zoom CCD lens (Returned Apr 29, 2019)
- Olympus SP-570UZ (Returned Apr 29, 2019)
- Special Olympus USB Cable (Returned Apr 29, 2019)
|
293
|
Thu May 3 21:45:58 2018 |
awade | General | Loan / Lending | Borrowed toaster oven |
I’ve borrowed the black and decker toaster oven to dry some sonicated parts. It is temporarly located in the QIL lab. |
424
|
Fri Jul 22 17:47:38 2022 |
Koji | General | General | C&B request for the reinforcement blocks |
OMC Reinforcement blocks
1. P/N D1600316; Version v4; Type 01; Qty 30; Source Chemistry Machine Shop
2. P/N D1600316; Version v4; Type 02; Qty 15; Source Chemistry Machine Shop
3. P/N D1600316; Version v4; Type 01; Qty 40; Source Resource MFG PO S422806
4. P/N D1600316; Version v4; Type 02; Qty 40; Source Resource MFG PO S422806
Stephen asked Srinath for the ICS entry.
Stephen made the C&B request https://cleanandbake.ligo.caltech.edu/clean_and_bake/request/1708/
Madeline was asked to take care of the C&B.
Also, the Torr Seal box was returned to Madeline. |
365
|
Thu May 23 01:42:46 2019 |
Koji | Optics | Characterization | C30665 high power test |
An Excelitas C30665 PD with the cap removed (SN07 in Case H slot #2) was exposed to the beam with the optical power of 1.4mW to 334mW.
After each illumination, the dark current and the dark noise level were tested. Also the photo image of the PD surface was taken each time.
- No significant change of the dark current after each illumination.
- No significant change of the dark noise after each illumination.
- No visible change of the surface observed.
|
518
|
Tue Apr 4 16:14:06 2023 |
Koji | Optics | Loan / Lending | C7 mirror to Downs |
I handed Camille the C7 mirror for the cross-calibration of the ROC characterization techniques. |
367
|
Tue May 28 12:14:20 2019 |
Stephen | Optics | General | CM PZT Assembly Debonding of EP30-2 in Acetone |
[LiyuanZ, StephenA]
Downs B119
Summary: Beginning on 20 May 2019, two CM PZT assemblies were soaked in Acetone in an effort to debond the EP30-2 bonds between tombstone-PZT and between PZT-optic. Debonding was straightforward after 8 days of soaking. 24 hours of additional acetone soaking will now be conducted in an attempt to remove remnant EP30-2 from bonding surfaces.
Procedure: The assemblies were allowed to soak in acetone for 8 days, with acetone level below the HR surface of the optic. No agitation of the solution, mechanical abrasion of the bond, or other disturbance was needed for the bond to soften.
GariLynn contributed the glassware and fume hood, and advised on the process (similar to debonding of CM and PZT from OMC SN002 after damaging event). The equipment list was (WIP, more detail / part numbers will be gathered today and tomorrow):
- crystallizing dish (no spout, like a deep petri dish)
- curved lid
- wax sheet (to seal)
- acetone
- fume hood
Results: Today, 28 May 2019, I went to the lab to check on the optics after 8 days of soaking. Liyuan had monitored the acetone level during the first 4 days, topping up once on 24 May. All bonds were fully submerged for 8 days.
There were 2 assemblies soaked in one crystallizing dish. Debonded assemblies - ref OMC eLOG 328 for specified orientations and components:
PZT Assy #9 - ref. OMC eLOG 334 - M17+PZT#12+C10
PZT Assy #7 - ref. OMC eLOG 332 - M1+PZT#13+C13
PZT Assy #7 was investigated first.
- C13 was removed with no force required.
- PZT#13 was removed with no force required.
- EP30-2 remained at the bond surfaces and tracing the diameters of each bond on each of the 3 bonding surfaces of the PZT and tombstone - these components were returned to the dish to soak.
- No EP30-2 remained on the surface of the curved mirror - C13 was removed and stored.
A video of removal of C10 and PZT#12 from PZT Assy #9 was collected (See Attachment 8), showing the ease with which the debonded components could be separated.
- C10 was removed with no force required.
- A slight force - applied by gripping the barrel of the PZT and pushing with the index finger on the surface of the tombstone - was required to separate PZT#12 from M17,
- likely due to excess glue at the barrel of the PZT
- EP30-2 remained at the bond surfaces and tracing the diameters of each bond on each of the 3 bonding surfaces of the PZT and tombstone - these components were returned to the dish to soak.
- No EP30-2 remained on the surface of the curved mirror - C13 was removed and stored.
Photos and video have been be added to supplement this report (edit 2019/07/08).
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123
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Fri May 10 09:33:22 2013 |
Koji | Supply | General | COMSOL simulation on the glass bracket stress |

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131
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Thu May 30 14:38:42 2013 |
Koji | Electronics | General | Cable fitting |
Yesterday Jeff and Chub worked on the cabling of the OMC. It turned out that the gender of the cable connectors
going from the cavity side to the connector bracket on top of the OMC were opposite from what is needed.
This way, the connectors can't fixed on the cable harness, thus they are free during the shipping.
We considered several ideas to mitigate this issue and decided to swap the gender of the Mighty Mouse connectors.
In order to check this operation may cause the shortage of the cable length, we made the fitting of the cables.
They seem all long enough for Chub to replace the Mighty Mouse connectors with the proper gender.
We also checked the polarity of the PZT wires. We marked the positive side of the PZT by a knot at the wire end.
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98
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Fri Apr 5 14:39:26 2013 |
Koji | Mechanics | Characterization | Calibration of the test PZTs after the heat cure |
We attached fused silica windows on the test PZTs. http://nodus.ligo.caltech.edu:8080/OMC_Lab/93
The glued assemblies were brought to Bob's bake lab for the heat cure. There they are exposed to 94degC heat for two hours (excluding ramp up/down time).
After the heat cure, we made the visual inspection.
The photos are available here.
Pre-bake
Test PZT #1: 17.4nm/V
Test PZT #2: 17.2nm/V
Test PZT #3: 30.6nm/V
Post-bake
Test PZT #1: 27.2 nm/V
Test PZT #2: 26.9 nm/V
Test PZT #3: 21.4 nm/V
Measurement precision is ~+/-20%
Spec is 14nm/V |
92
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Wed Apr 3 17:39:38 2013 |
Koji | Mechanics | Characterization | Calibration of the test PZTs before the glue test |
We want to make sure the responses of the PZT actuator does not change after the EP30-2 gluing.
A shadow sensor set up was quickly set-up at the fiber output. It turned out the ring PZTs are something really not-so-straightforward.
If the PZT was free or just was loosely attached on a plane by double-sided tape, the actuation response was quite low (30% of the spec).
After some struggle, I reached the conclusion that the PZT deformation is not pure longitudinal but some 3-dimensional, and you need to
use a "sandwitch" with two flat surfaces with some pressue.
I turned the setup for horizontal scans to the vertical one, and put the PZT between quarter-inch spacers.
Then two more spacers are placed on the stack so that the weight applies the vertical pressure on the PZT.
This is also use ful to adjust the height of the shadow.

The calibration plot is attached. It gives us ~21k V/m.
Voltage swing of 150V results the output voltage change of ~50mV. This is pretty close to what is expected from the spec (16nm/V).
The PZT#3 (which had the mirror glued on) showed significantly large response.
Test PZT #1: 17.4nm/V
Test PZT #2: 17.2nm/V
Test PZT #3: 30.6nm/V
UHV PZT #24: 17.6nm/V
These numbers will be checked after the heat cure of EP30-2 |
364
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Wed May 22 07:31:37 2019 |
Koji | Optics | Configuration | Camera test (DCPD high power test) |
C30665 (3mm) camera test. The camera was Canon PowerShot G7X MkII. Exposure 1/15s, F 5.6, ISO 125, MF (~the closest), no zoom.
This image was taken before the beam illumination. Will tune the green lighting to have some gradient on the surface so that we can see any deformation of the surface.
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145
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Tue Jun 18 10:01:11 2013 |
Koji | Optics | Characterization | Cavity Finesse analysis |
This is the analysis of the cavity finesse data taken on Apr/13/2013 (before baking), May/30/2013 (after baking), and Jun/02/2013 (after cleaning).
If we believe this result, baking contaminated the cavity, and the first contact removed it. That agrees with the power measurement of the transmitted light. |
185
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Fri May 16 00:13:36 2014 |
Koji | Optics | Characterization | Cavity mirror gluing part 1 |
BS1/FM1/FM2 for I1OMC were glued.
FM1 had to be intentionally rotated.
FM1 had to be intentionally shifted to avoid scattering spot.
Pin: 36.3 / Ptrans: 33.7 = Raw transmission 92.8%
Vunlock = 6.30 / Vlock = 0.120
Mode matching (estim) 0.98
Loss per mirror 84ppm
Cavity transmission 0.947
ummm
Tomorrow:
- Transmission needs to be optimized
- Apply 50V to a PZT
- Cavity FSR/HOM should be optimized
- gluing
Put a cover
Return power meter / DC supply |
18
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Tue Aug 14 03:29:06 2012 |
Koji | Supply | General | Clean supply rack |
Clean supplies & some cleaning tools are located at the right side of the entrance.
The file cabinet there was moved to the left side of the door, but will be removed eventually.

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347
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Fri Apr 19 09:21:07 2019 |
Philip | Optics | | Cleaning of OMC optics |
ach[Joe, Phillip, Koji, Stephen]
Work from 17.04.2019
First contact cleaning of OMC optics
We cleaned the OMC optic with first contact. After a first cleaning run all mirrors except for two looked
fine. One had some first contact residuals on the left at center height and another had some particle sitting
near the center area. As the ionized nitrogen gun didn't help we applied another round of first contact which resolved
the two issues. Unfortutanely the second run of cleaning again left some residuals of first contact at the edges.
We were able to peal these off with tweezers.
Placement of Optics at the breadboard
We cleaned the contact surfaces for the bonds using optic wipes and pure isopropanol. The placement wen't well for 3 of the 5 optics (low number of newtonian rings).
One was recleaned and placed on the breadboard again which seemed fine. For the 5th no newtonian rings could be seen (either verry ood or bad) we planed on trying it in the current set-up. Mirrors used can be seen in attachment 3.
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217
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Wed Aug 27 23:13:13 2014 |
Koji | Optics | Characterization | Collection of the power budgetting info |
L1 OMC Cavity power budget
H1 OMC Cavity power budget
3IFO OMC Cavity power budget |
460
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Thu Nov 17 19:50:00 2022 |
Koji | Optics | Characterization | Conclusion on the cleaning of OMC #001 |
Conclusion on the cleaning of OMC #001
- After a couple of first contact cleaning trials and deep cleaning, the total loss was measured to be 0.045+/-0.004.
This indicated a slight improvement from the loss measured at LLO before any cleaning (0.064+/-0.004).
However, the number did not improve to the level we marked in 2013 (0.028+/-0.004).
- This loss level of 4.5% is comparable to the loss level of OMC #3, which is currently used at LHO.
Therefore, this OMC #1 is still a useful spare for the site use.
- Some notes / to-do regarding this unit:
1) The beam dump with melted black glass was removed. A new beam dump needs to be bonded on the base.
2) The connector bracket still needs to be replaced with the PEEK version.
3) The PZT of CM1 has been defunct since 2013. Combining LV and HV drivers is necessary upon use at the site. (LLO used to do it). |
126
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Mon May 13 15:00:23 2013 |
Koji | General | General | Current most reliable OMC schedule |
May
Tue 14th The OMC given to Bob (Air bake & Vac bake)
Mon 20th The OMC received from Bob
Apply First contact
Diode mount adjustment / Electronic tests
Tue 21st Diode mount adjustment / Electronic tests / Optical tests
Wed 22nd Final cabling (***Chub***)
Thu 23rd Final cabling / Packing
Fri 24th Packing / Shipping
Mon 27th? Arrival to LLO / Koji fly to LLO
Tue 28th Test on the optical bench
Wed 29th Test on the optical bench
Thu 30th Suspension test? (***Jeff B***)
June
Tue 4th Suspension test done? |
129
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Tue May 21 18:28:08 2013 |
Koji | General | General | Current most reliable OMC schedule |
- The wrong Mighty Mouse connectors for the PZT wires were prepared. The correct ones are in the vacuum oven till Tuesday morning.
- The thread holes for the cable pegs are 1/4-20 rather than 10-24. This requires re-machining of the cable pegs & the C&B.
- We are waiting for the fast shipment of the from LHO
May
Thu 23rd Diode mount adjustment / Optical tests
Fri 24th Optical tests
Tue 28th Mighty mouse connector available / Diode mounting finalization
Wed 29th final check
Thu 30th shipment
Fri 31th
June
Mon 3rd ? Arrival to LLO / Koji fly to LLO
Tue 4th Suspension test done? |
225
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Sat Jul 18 11:37:21 2015 |
Koji | Electronics | AM Stabilized EOM Driver | D0900848 power board ~ oscillation issue solved |
Power Supply Board D0900848 was oscillating. Here is the procedure how the issue was fixed.
PCB schematic: LIGO DCC D0900848
0. Extracting the power board.
The top lid and the front panel were removed. Top two modules were removed from the inter-board connection.
Some of the SMA cables were necessary to be removed to allow me to access to the botttom power board.
1. D1~D4 protection diodes
Daniel asked me to remove D1, D2, D3, D4 as the power supply sequence is controlled by the relays.
This was done.
2. Power supply oscillation
Since the power supply systems are entagnled, the oscillation of the transister boosted amps had to be checked one by one.
2.1 VREFP (U5)
First of all, the buffering stage of the positive voltage reference (U5) was oscillating. Attachment 1 is the observed voltage at "VREFP" at D13.
The oscillation was at 580kHz with 400mVpp. This was solved by replacing C20 with 1.2nF. (0805 SMD Cap)
2.2 VREFN (U6)
Then the buffering stage of the negative voltage reference (U6) was checked. Attachment 2 is the observed voltage at "VREFN" at D16.
The oscillation was at 26MHz with 400mVpp. This seemed to have a different mechanism from the U5 oscillation. This oscillation frequency is
higher than the GBW of OP27. So there must be some spurious path to the transister stage. This amplifier stage is a bit unique.
The input is VREFP, but the positive supply is also VREFP. And the feedback path between R31 and C24 is very long. I was afraid that this oscillation
was caused by some combination of L and stray C by the long feedback path and the output to power VREFP coupling, although I could not reproduce
the oscillation on LTSpice.
After some struggles, adding a 100pF cap between the output of U6 op27 (PIN6) and VREFP (PIN7) stopped the oscillation.
I think this changes the loop function and fullfills the stability condition. I confirmed by a LTSpice model that additional cap does not
screw up the original function of the stage at audio frequencies when everything is functioning as designed.
2.3 Positive supply systems (U10, U11, U12)
Even after fixing the oscillations of U5 and U6, I kept observing the oscllative component of ~600kHz at U10 (+21V), U11 (+15V), and U12 (+5V) stages.
Among them, U11 had the biggest oscillation of 400mVpp at the opamp out (Attachment 3). The other two had small oscillation like 20mVpp at the opamp outputs.
The solution was the same as 2.1. C50, C51, and C52 were replaced to 1.2nF. After the modification I still had the 600kHz component with 2mVpp.
I wanted to check other channels and come back to this.
2.3 Negative supply systems (U7, U8, U9)
Similarly the outputs of U7, U8, and U9 had the oscillation at 600kHz with 40~80mVpp. Once C35, C36, and C37 were replaced with 1.2nF,
I no longer could see any 600kHz anywhere, including U10~U12.
2.4 -24V system (U13)
Last modification was U13. It had a noise of 50mVpp due to piled-up random pulses (Attachment 4). I just tried to replace C63 with 1.2nF
and remove a soldering jumber of W1. There still looks random glitches there. But it's no longer the round shaped pulses but a sharp gliches
and the amplitude is 20mV each (Attachment 5). In fact, later I noticed that Q9 is not stuffed and W2 is closed. This means that the +24V external supply is
directly connected to +24AMP. Therefore U13 has no effect to the 24V suppy system.
3. Restoring all connections / final check of the voltages
Restore the middle and top PCBs to the intra-PCB connector board. Attach the front panel. Restore the SMA connections.
The missing soldering of the SMA cable (reported in the previous entry) was soldered.
Once all the circuits are connected again, the power supply voltages were checked again. There was no sign of oscillation.
All the above modifications are depicted in Attachment 6. |
269
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Fri Sep 9 19:43:32 2016 |
Koji | Optics | General | D1102211 OMC Diode Mount Glass Block went to Downs |
D1102211 OMC Diode Mount Glass Block (11pcs) have been given to Calum@Downs |
409
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Sun May 30 15:17:16 2021 |
Koji | General | General | DCPD AF capacitance measirement |
Attachment 1: System diagram. The reverse bias voltage is controlled by DS335. This can produce a voltage offset up to 10V. A G=+2 opamp circuit was inserted so that a bias of up to +15V can be produced. The capacitances of the photodiodes were measured with SR720 LCR meter with a probe. DS335 and SR720 were controlled from PC/Mac via serial connections.
Attachment 2: Overview
Attachment 3: How was the probe attached to the photodiode under the test
Attachment 4: The bias circuitry and the power supply
Attachment 5: G=+2 amp |
410
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Sun May 30 15:32:56 2021 |
Koji | General | General | DCPD AF capacitance measirement |
Measurement result:
The capacitance at no bias was 460~500pF. This goes down to below 300pF at 1.0~1.5V reverse bias. At maximum +15V, the capacitance goes down to 200~220pF.
On this opportunity, the capacitances of a couple of Excelitas C30665 photodiodes were measured. In Attachment 2, the result was compared with one of the results from the high QE PDs. In general the capacitance of C30665 is lower than the one from the high QE PDs. |
363
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Mon May 20 19:53:17 2019 |
Koji | Optics | Configuration | DCPD high power test |
We want to perform a damage test of OMC DCPDs with high power beam. The OMC DCPD is the 3mm InGaAs photodiodes with high quantum efficiency, delivered by Laser Components.
The sites want to know the allowed input power during the OMC scan for beam mode analysis. The nominal bias voltage of the PDs is +12V. Therefore, 30mA of photocurrent with the transimpedance of 400 Ohm is already enough to saturate the circuit. This means that the test is intended to check the damage of the photodiode mainly by the optical power.
The test procedure is as follows:
1. Illuminate the diode with certain optical power.
2. Measure the dark current and dark noise of the PD with no light on it.
3. Check the condition of the PD surface with a digital camera.
4. Repeat 1~3 with larger optical power.
The beam from an NPRO laser is delivered to the photodiode. The maximum power available is 300~400mW. The beam shape was regulated to have the beam radius of ~500um.
- When the PD is exposed to the high power beam, the circuit setup A) is used. This setup is intended to mimic the bias and transimpedance configuration used in the DCPD amp at the site.
- When the dark noise is measured, the circuit setup B) is used. This setup is low noise enough to measure the dark noise (and current) of the PD.
- The test procedure is going to be tested with an Excelitas 3mm InGaAs PD (C30665), and then tested with the high QE PD. |
481
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Wed Feb 1 01:39:41 2023 |
Koji | Mechanics | General | DCPD housing / QPD housing |
Inserted 4-40 and 2-56 helicoils into the DCPD/QPD housings for the 4th OMC. The retainer caps were also fastened to the housings. |
118
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Thu Apr 18 11:59:02 2013 |
Koji | General | General | DCPD path gluing |
[Jeff, Koji]
DCPD path gluing
Usual preparation
- Locked the cavity.
- Aligned the input beam to the cavity
DCPD BS gluing
- Placed the DCPD BS on the breadboard
- Placed the dummy DCPD mount on the reflection side of the BS. Check the height and position of the spot.
- Placed the dummy DCPD mount on the transmission side of the BS. Check the height and position of the spot.
- The spot positions looked fine.
- Added a dub of UV glue on the BS. Placed it along the fixture.
- Checked the reflection spot again with the CCD. Kept monitored the spot position through out the gluing process
of the BS.
- Blasted the UV illumination
Reflection side beam dump gluing
- Replaced the alignment disk of the dummy DCPD with a photodiode with the cap removed.
- Put the dummy DCPD mount and the beam dump in place
- Checked the reflection spot from the diode on the beam dump. It looked fine.
- Applied 2~3 dubs of the glue on the beam dump. Slid in the dump to the fixture.
- Applied UV illumination. As the beam dump shadows the illumination 3 times of 10sec blasts were applied.
Transmission side beam dump gluing
- Put the dummy DCPD mount with the diode in place
- Put the beam dump in place. The template needed to be lifted up a bit to accomplish this action.
This should be fixed by the modification of the template.
- Checked the transmission spot on the diode and the spot reflected from the diode on the beam dump.
- Actually the spot was too much close to the vertex of the "V" on the beam dump. We determined that
this was mainly caused by the misalignment of the diode element, and can be compensated by the tilt of the diode mount.
- Removed the beam dump from the template once. Applied 2~3 dubs of the glue on the beam dump.
Slid in the dump to the fixture by lifting up the template again.
- Applied UV illumination. As the beam dump shadows the illumination 3 times of 10sec blasts were applied.
Mounting bracket gluing
- Glued the mounting brackets for the DCPD mounts based on the positions specified by the template.
Removing the templates
- Removed the connection bars between the two templates.
- Removed the template at the QPD side. The screws at all of the three sides were needed to be released in order to accomplish this action.
Once the screws are released, the template was slid on the breadboard so that the pads did not scratch the optical surface.
Keep one side of the template use as a pivot, lifted up another side until the pads clear the optic. Then lifted up the other side.
- Removed the other template. This time, the screws at the two DCPD sides are released. The template was slid and lifted in a same way.
Last beam dump gluing
- Once the QPD side template was removed, the last beam dump at the transmission side of the first steering mirror was glued.
- This has been done without any gluing fixture, we held the beam dump with clean Allen keys on the breadboard.
- The paths for the main and stray beams were confirmed by an IR sensor card, and blasted the UV.
Closing the transport fixture
- Removed the constraining pins for the breadboard.
- Made sure all of the constraining pins/screws are released for the other side of the transport fixture were released.
- Put the lid on.
- Fastened the constraining pins/screws of the transport fixture.
- Wrapped the fixture with sheets of the Al foil.
- Pack the fixture in anti-static bags.
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130
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Thu May 23 23:41:48 2013 |
Koji | Mechanics | General | DCPD/QPD Mount |
DCPD mounts and QPD mounts were attached on the breadboard. They are not aligned yet and loosely fastened.
DCPD (mounting 4-40x5/16 BHCS Qty4)
Face plates fatsened by 4-40x5/16 BHCS (24 out of 40)
Housing Face plate Destination PD
002 002 L1OMC DCPD1 #10
003 003 L1OMC DCPD2 #11
004 004 H1OMC DCPD1
008
005 H1OMC DCPD2
009
006 I1OMC DCPD1
010
007 I1OMC DCPD2
QPD (mounting 4-40x5/16 BHCS Qty4)
Face plates fatsened by 4-40x1/4 BHCS (24 out of 80)
Housing Face plate Destination QPD
002 002 L1OMC QPD1 #38 #43 swapped on 29th May.
003 003 L1OMC QPD2 #43 #38
swapped on 29th May.
004
004
H1OMC QPD1
005
005
H1OMC QPD2
006
006
I1OMC QPD1
007
007 I1OMC QPD2
* 4-40x5/16 BHCS Qty 8 left
* 4-40x5/16 BHCS Qty 56 left
Cut the diode legs by 3mm
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