I fiddled around with the QPD that I'll use to replace Koji's temporary razor blade yaw sensor for detecting POP beam angular motion, and checked that it is working. 

Using the Jenne Laser, I put beam onto the 4 different quadrants of the QPD, and saw that the Sum channel remained constant. 

   * I had the room lights off, since the PD elements are silicon. 

   * Beam size on the QPD as seen on an IR card was ~1mm diameter.

   * With the beam on the QPD, I chose gain setting "G2" on the amplifier, since that was the only setting where neither the "current too high" nor the "current too low" LEDs were illuminated.  I didn't measure the power going to the PD, but the Jenne Laser puts out 1.2mW, and there's a 50/50 BS, so I was getting about 600uW. 

   * I turned off the "zero/cal" switch on the back of the box, since I don't know how to set the zero.  Since the X and Y channels are normalized by the Sum, you can't just block all light going to the PD and set the zero.  There isn't a big change in the output levels with the zero/cal switch off, so I think it should be fine.  (Previously, I set all 4 knobs - "zero" and "cal" for each X and Y - to approximately the center of their ranges.  Once you hit the end of the range, you can keep turning the knob, but something inside makes a clicking sound ~once per revolution, and the signal level stops changing (for the zero knobs). Much like centering a beam on a PD, I found each edge of the range for each knob, and set the knobs in the centers by counting the number of turns.  Anyhow, since I set the knobs to ~halfway, I think that explains why there isn't really a change whether the "zero/cal" switch is on or off.

   * Using the steering mirror sending the beam to the QPD, I moved the beam around, and watched where I was going with an IR viewer.  I see that as I move from quad-to-quad, the X and Y channels respond as I expect.  If I only move the beam in X, I only see X response on a 'scope, and vice versa.

I can't do a real calibration until I get the QPD installed in place, so I can use the actual beam, but for now it looks like the QPD is responding nicely.  Since Annalisa and Manasa are using the Arms for the evening, I'll work on putting the QPD on the POX table tomorrow.