I've begun cleaning the optics that will eventually go back onto the newly installed X-endtable. We decided that First Contact was the way to go (as opposed to methanol drag wiping). Koji demonstrated the application of the (red) First Contact solution onto a 2" mirror - I then proceeded to work on the rest of the optics. We are broadly following the procedure in E1000079 - first one coat of First Contact solution is applied, then a small piece of PEEK is embedded by applying a second layer of solution over it (this will enable us to pull off the First Contact once we are ready - the plan is to do this after roughly placing the optic on the table. As of now, I've finished coating most of the optics that are part of the IR Transmon path - I will continue later in the evening.

The new endtable is almost ready for re-population. Steve just needs to shim the enclosure which will be done tomorrow morning. The game-plan as discussed at the meeting today is to first try and set up the IR Transmon path. This will allow us to verify that the endtable height is such that we can maintain a beam height of 4" everywhere on the table (I suspect we may have to compromise at some poing and do some fine adjustment of 1/4 to 1/2" somewhere though). It will also allow me to define the cavity axis relative to the table, which will be useful to place the green steering optics eventually. Doing this will be challenging though as right now, I can't see any of the arm flashes on the endtable using an IR card. Ideally, we want to somehow lock the X arm and then do the checks mentioned at the endtable, before beginning to put the endtable back together.