The vacuum chamber has stopped baking. 

Current state as of 11:40, 12/19/2024:

The gate valve is open, and the filament of the RGA is on.

The temperatures were steady at:

PID right: barrel upper: 129°C,  RGA volume: 125°C

PID left: barrel lower: 125°C, Lid: 114°C

The RGA flange was 37°C

Cleanroom was 26°C

Note the upper barrel was very close to the emergency shut off temp of 130°C. In the future we may want to either rewire some of the heating tape or lower the set temperature of the right PID controller.

Luis and I are planning on taking an RGA scan of the MR on Sunday before the campus shuts down for the holidays.

[Jon, Tyler, Shane, Luis]

On Wednesday we completed the migration of the electronics workshop from 1119 to the large new workbenches in 1129. The two workstations pictured closest to the front of the room are for electronics assembly and testing, while the two in the rear will house LIGO CDS workstations. We moved all of the tools, cabling, and soldering and test equipment from 1119 to this new location. We also moved the large tool chest to 1129, as pictured, and moved the smaller tool chest to 1119 in its place.

The electronics workbench is ready for use. 

A quick update on the effective emissivity analysis for the CIT FROSTI testing:

I was able to (roughly) match the OPD data to a referenced COMSOL model, with an applied power of 12.6 W (as seen below). However, when changing the emissivity of the ETM in COMSOL, the dT profiles do not seem to change much. I am not sure as to why this is the case at the moment, and will continue to look further.

Additionally attached are the current RIN measurements of the FROSTI prototype. Shown is the PSDs of both channels, in reference to their individual backgrounds.

This is to optimize the FROSTI heating profile for ETM, by minimizing the residual RMSE of the HR surface deformation after the beam size weighted curvature is removed by the current RH. The parameters of the profile being explored are the location, width, and total power for the Gaussian Annulus. As shown in the attached series of plots, the optimal location is 9.9 cm, with a width of 7.7 cm, and a total FROSTI power of 12.7 W (for 1 W of Gaussian beam absorption). The residual RMSE is 1.2 nm. About 0.5% of the FROSTI power is lost at the edges of the TM.

For comparison, without FROSTI, the residual RMSE after the beam size weighted curvature removed by the current RH is 44.5 nm. When the width of the Annulus is set to be 3 cm however, the residual RMS is 3.1 nm, with much smaller FROSTI power needed at 4.7 W, and less power loss at 0.02%.

• Today I was able to plot a graph for the isolation point on the center of the heater. I got data from six different positions on the screen (I shifted the all coordinates). I extracted the data for the center point and plot the Gaussian with this extracted data for temperature. I attached the all plots below
• Also I took a snap using the black wall and with the heater at 120.1 C (0.30 A) try to have less noise but we can see this is not very good. At this temperature, we have noise on the top and I don't understand why because the heater is not in this location. I attached a snap below.

• Today I got more data to plot the Gaussian. So I took more snaps in each position for the six different spots than we be using to have a better calibration of the FLIR collected data. I attached the new plot below. Also, I did the same plot for each region as on the Elog 167 but I have more than 20 pics because I was using a big number of data so I just attached one example below.

To access the Elog, click here.

• Also I think we have some real (non-ideal) heat diffusion by the screen and not noise like Dr. Richardson suggested. I was testing today and we can see the first pic before the start heater source turns on, the second pic is at 120.2 C (0.31A) with the heater on and the last pic is after the heater source cooled back down to room temperature. Just in the second pic, we have a strong spot on the top, so it looks like a non-ideal diffusion.

[Pamella]

Updates: Problems with the emission intensity and python code.
• Yesterday I was working on get data from FLIR reflector but unfortunately we got some problems:

1. I realized than if I move the reflector a to left or right the screen doesn't get data very well(I attached a photo below). This is a problem because our idea is have the same type of emission every part on screen. Tyler and I worked to tried fix that but don't had success.
2. Dr. Richardson gave me the idea to move the FLIR camera to left or right (The same happens if I move up and down) and keep the refletor on the same position every time but unfortunately we got the same problem, the screen doesn't get data very well(I attached a photo below). Now I am working to tried fix that.

• Also I was able to work on the code to isolate the triangle shape for analyzes, I attached the image for that below.

Update: I was able to put the FROSTI power controller on the lab network. It is connected to the switch in the top of the rack and is assigned a static IP address of 192.168.1.12 and an NDS hostname of relay1.

The controller can be remotely accessed through an SSH command line interface as well as an HTML webpage, which can be opened from any web browser on the lab network by navigating to the above IP address (the login credentials are the same as for the workstation computers).

There is also an unofficial Python package for interfacing with the controller: dlipower. We will investigate using this package to interface the controller with soft EPICS channels hosted on the CyMAC. This will allow us to create a custom MEDM screen for controlling the FROSTI heater elements.

Edit: The login credentials were set up to be the same as for the CDS workstations.

The timing chassis used for the cymac has been shut off due to an unknown issue causing its supplied current to fluctuate. All real-time models will be suspended until a solution is found.

I've been looking into the performances of individual channels on the Cymac by computing their individual PSDs and corresponding CSDs that show their noise relation to each other. It appears some channels do have lower noise floors than others, and some combinations of these actually do perform similar to the Red Pitaya (showing below the CSD between CHs 3 and 5), although it doesn't look like it's much of an improvement. The best method as of now still appears to be phase-locking two separate ADCs to reduce the correlated noise floor further.

This can be further discussed at the July 22, 2025 group meeting.

[Jon, Shane, Luis]

My repair of the internal ribbon connecting the ADC to the adapter board resolved the timing signal problem. After this repair, we were able to start the front-end IOP model and checked out the RTS diagnostic screens (pictured below). All indicator lights were green except for the DK flag (indicating the DAC outputs are not enabled) and the DAQ flag (indicating that the system is recording data to disk). Those were both as expected, because the DAQD data acquisition service was not set up yet and the DAC outputs are not enabled until at least one user model (which outputs signals to the DAC) is started. I created and installed a simple user model (C1MSC) and confirmed that the DK flag clears once this model starts.

I later attempted to set up the DAQD service, which is needed to save data, but am yet to successfully debug it. I have received some guidance from one of LIGO's CDS experts and will try it at my next opportunity for lab work.

• Topmost Sorensen: +24V (reserved for FROSTI)
  • Positive terminal:
  • unconnected for now
  • Negative terminal: [negative terminal is grounded]
  • jumper to Sorensen ground screw
• Sorensen 2nd from the top: +18V
  • Positive terminal:
  • white power cable wire for AA chassis
  • white power cable wire for AI chassis
  • white power cable wire for BI chassis
  • white power cable wire for BO chassis
  • Negative terminal: [negative terminal is grounded]
  • jumper to Sorensen ground screw
  • black power cable wire for AA chassis
  • black power cable wire for AI chassis
  • black power cable wire for BI chassis
  • black power cable wire for BO chassis
• Sorensen 3rd from the top: -18V
  • Positive terminal:[positive terminal is grounded]
  • jumper to Sorensen ground screw
  • green power cable wire for BI chassis
  • green power cable wire for BO chassis
  • Negative terminal:
  • green power cable wire for AA chassis
  • green power cable wire for AI chassis
• Bottommost Sorensen: +6V
  • Positive terminal:
  • white power cabe wire for timing chassis
  • Negative terminal: [negative terminal is grounded]
  • jumper to Sorensen ground screw
  • green power cable wire for timing chassis
  • black power cable wire for timing chassis

Updated CyMAC measurement, comparing 260 hrs of measurement time vs. 405 hrs.

Below is attached the ADC noise floor of two CyMAC channels vs the Red Pitaya.

The frequency resolution of these RIN spectra are 16 Hz, with N_meas = 19,308,426 for the CyMAC, and N_meas = 263,024.

Cross-linking instructions: How to run a Jupyter notebook in your custom Conda environment

After leaving the the chamber to bake at 120 deg C from Thursday 3:41 pm. Today I started to cool the chamber down to room temperature at 11:30 am (total bake duration: 91 hours 49 minutes). Ideally, this process should be ramped down slowly, approx. 6 degree per hour. However we had no ramping function with out controller. The only method to tune this cool/ heat rate is to tune the PID parameters, which are:

1. Pb : Proportional band, this quantity is inversely proportional to the P-gain
2. ti : Integral time. Increasing integral time makes the output response slower to error, thus the opposite effect of increasing integration gain
3. td : Differential time

1. Pb : 50
2. ti : 100 s
3. td : 25 s

1. Pb : 200
2. ti : 800 s

[Jon, Pooyan, Tyler]

A few computer machine changes have been made. 

• Logrus moved from 1119 to 1129. It is up and running with the same IP address as before. 
• A new Windows machine (host name: spica, IP:192.168.1.14) is installed in the 1119 server rack. It is connected to the RGA scanner with the serial port and is specifically used for that purpose. 
  • Update: The machine was off on 6/25, although it was left on 6/24. We think that it might have been because of Windows' default setting to suspend/hibernate the machine after idleness. To resolve this, I used  "powercfg /change" command to set all the following parameters equal to zero. The machine is still running on 6/26. 

    monitor-timeout-ac
    monitor-timeout-dc
    disk-timeout-ac
    disk-timeout-dc
    standby-timeout-ac
    standby-timeout-dc
    hibernate-timeout-ac
    hibernate-timeout-dc

• A new Debian machine (hostname: megatron, IP:192.168.1.16) is installed in the 1129 server rack. This machine is intended to be used for FEA/simulation work. A new 2TB WD Green SSD is used as its main disk drive. 

   At the moment, “controls” is the only user, and there are no apps/libraries installed on the machine.

  • Update: Jon installed LIGO cds-workstation tools and MiniConda on 6/26. 
  • Update: Pooyan and Liu set the following conda environments:
    • Env named “finesse” with Python 3.12.3 and Finesse version 3.0a24 installed. Finesse was installed via the source code. The subdirectory “/home/controls/packages” is used to store the package sourcecodes.
    • Env named “fenicsx” with the same version of Python and Finesse as the previous env, with the latest version of FEniCSx (0.8) and the test-mass-thermal-state installed.  

• 02:09 pm: Turned on the device (current on)
• 02:42 pm: Started taking snap on position one (Reference point: 0,-0.062). Parameters:0.10A,1.5V,41.5C
• I took multiplier snap on the same position for compare after on data analyzes. I just wanted one/two minute break between the snaps. I did that same for every position.
• 02:55 pm: Started taking snap on position two (Reference point:-0.10,-0.062 ). Parameters: 0.10A,1.5v,43 C
• 03:01 pm: Started taking snap on position three (Reference point:0.05 ,-0.062). Parameters: 0.1A,1.4V,42.8C
• 03:07 pm: Started taking snap on position four (Reference point: 0.05,0.045). Parameters:0.10A,1.5V,43.6 C
• 03:15 pm: Started taking snap on position five (Reference point: 0,0.045). Parameters:0.10A, 1.4V, 44.1C
• 03:22 pm: Started taking snap on position six (Reference point: 0,0.045). Parameters: 0.10A,1.4V,43.3 C
• We can see in the photos attached below than have some differences between every position so I should be starting analyzes on that.

cleaning cleanroom and particle count

• 3:16 pm: started particle count.

  NOTE: we are not within the ISO class 5 standard for any size ranges in zone 3. ~6000 above limit in 0.3 u, ~2000 above in 0.5, ~200 above in 1.0

  • zone 3:
    • 0.3 u: 16,711
    • 0.5 u: 5612
    • 1.0 u: 1039
• zone 4:
  • 0.3 u: 6817
  • 0.5 u: 2369
  • 1.0 u: 249
• 3:35 pm: began surface check and wipedown, including softwalls
• 3:50 pm: started vacuuming the floor
• 4:00 pm: finished vacuuming the floor
• 4:01 pm: started mopping the floor
• 4:06 pm: finished mopping the floor
• 4:07 pm: started cleaning the buckets
• 4:08 pm: started mopping with IPA wipes
• 4:14 pm: finished mopping with IPA wipes
• 4:15 pm: changed sticky floor mats
• 4:18 pm: started particle count
  • zone 3:
    • 0.3 u: 23,113
    • 0.5 u: 9686
    • 1.0 u: 1371
• zone 4:
  • 0.3 u: 7191
  • 0.5 u: 2951
  • 1.0 u: 290

Today we cleaned the clean-room (floor, surfaces) and particle count.

10:00 am: Started particle count.
• Zone 3:
• 0.3u: 1330
• 0.5u: 540
• 1.0u: 415
• Zone 4:
• 0.3u: 290
• 0.5u: 83
• 1.0u: 0

Clean-room:
• 10:30 am: Started wiping down the surfaces inside the clean-room
• 10:41 am: Finished wiping down the surfaces inside the clean-room and Started vacuuming the clean-room.
• 10:58 am: Finished vacuuming the clean-room.
• 11:00 am: Started mopping on the floor.
• 11:20 am: Finished mopping on the floor and started wiping on the floor.
• 11:34 am: Finished wiping on the floor.
• 11:35 am: Started the particle count.
• 11:57 am: Finished the particle count.

• Zone 3
• 0.3u: 997
• 0.5u: 290
• 1.0u: 207
• Zone 4
• 0.3u: 374
• 0.5u: 207
• 1.0u: 207

cleaning cleanroom and particle count

• 3:37 pm: started particle count
  • zone 3:
    • 0.3 u: 1205
    • 0.5 u: 748
    • 1.0 u: 249
• zone 4:
  • 0.3 u: 1496
  • 0.5 u: 748
  • 1.0 u: 290
• 3:57 pm: began surface check and wipedown, including softwalls. NOTE: vacuum chamber insulation crumbling at edges, dropping loose flakes. Scatters residue whenever jostled, so wiping it down just releases more. Not enough flakes are being released for it to be a major issue, but definitely something to keep an eye on.
• 4:18 pm: started vacuuming the floor
• 4:29 pm: finished vacuuming the floor
• 4:30 pm: started mopping the floor
• 4:35 pm: finished mopping the floor
• 4:36 pm: started cleaning the buckets
• 4:41 pm: started mopping with IPA wipes
• 4:52 pm: finished mopping with IPA wipes
• 4:52 pm: changed sticky floor mats
• 4:53 pm: started particle count
  • zone 3:
    • 0.3 u: 3367
    • 0.5 u: 1787
    • 1.0 u: 914
• zone 4:
  • 0.3 u: 1039
  • 0.5 u: 498
  • 1.0 u: 249

cleaning cleanroom and particle count

NOTE: particle counter was found dead, with the charging dock unplugged. For future reference, if you need to unplug the dock, please either plug it back in when you're done, or make a note in an elog so someone else can come down and charge it.

• 1:07 pm: ran zero count test on particle counter
• 1:26 pm: started particle count
  • zone 3:
    • 0.3 u:1787
    • 0.5 u:457
    • 1.0 u:41
• zone 4: We were only able to charge the particle counter a small amount before starting the cleaning, so it died again halfway through this measurement, and we didn't get results for zone 4. In interest of time, we just put it on the charger and started the cleaning.
• 1:49 pm: began surface check and wipedown, including softwalls
• 2:16 pm: started vacuuming the floor
• 2:24 pm: finished vacuuming the floor
• 2:26 pm: started mopping the floor
• 2:32 pm: finished mopping the floor
• 2:32 pm: started cleaning the buckets
• 2:35 pm: started mopping with IPA wipes
• 2:43 pm: finished mopping with IPA wipes
• 2:43 pm: changed sticky floor mats
• 2:45 pm: started particle count
  • zone 3:
    • 0.3 u: 1288
    • 0.5 u: 124
    • 1.0 u: 0
• zone 4:
  • 0.3 u: 415
  • 0.5 u: 290
  • 1.0 u: 0

cleaning cleanroom and particle count

• 1:45 pm: ran zero count test on particle counter
• 1:50 pm: started particle count
  • zone 3:
    • 0.3 u: 2660
    • 0.5 u: 332
    • 1.0 u: 41
• zone 4:
  • 0.3 u: 8106
  • 0.5 u: 2494
  • 1.0 u: 831
• 2:08 pm: began surface check and wipedown, including softwalls
• 2:22 pm: started vacuuming the floor
• 2:39 pm: finished vacuuming the floor
• 2:43 pm: started mopping the floor
• 2:53 pm: finished mopping the floor
• 2:54 pm: started cleaning the buckets
• 2:59 pm: started mopping with IPA wipes
• 3:06 pm: finished mopping with IPA wipes
• 3:10 pm: changed sticky floor mats
• 3:06 pm: started particle count
  • zone 3:
    • 0.3 u: 1496
    • 0.5 u: 83
    • 1.0 u: 0
• zone 4:
  • 0.3 u: 789
  • 0.5 u: 83
  • 1.0 u: 41

cleaning cleanroom and particle count

• 12:25 pm: started particle count
  • zone 3:
    • 0.3 u: 4614
    • 0.5 u: 872
    • 1.0 u:83
• zone 4:
  • 0.3 u: 2411
  • 0.5 u: 415
  • 1.0 u: 83
• 12:48 pm: began surface check and wipedown, including softwalls
• 1:20 pm: started vacuuming the floor
• 1:30 pm: finished vacuuming the floor
• 1:34 pm: started mopping the floor
• 1:40 pm: finished mopping the floor
• 1:40 pm: started cleaning the buckets
• 1:42 pm: started mopping with IPA wipes
• 1:50 pm: finished mopping with IPA wipes
• 1:51 pm: changed sticky floor mats
• 3:44 pm: started particle count
  • zone 3:
    • 0.3 u: 3207
    • 0.5 u: 624
    • 1.0 u: 83
• zone 4:
  • 0.3 u: 916
  • 0.5 u: 83
  • 1.0 u: 0

[Luke, Luis, Michael]

cleaning cleanroom and particle count

• 8:30 am: started particle count
  • zone 3:
    • 0.3 u: 1195
    • 0.5 u: 177
    • 1.0 u: 132
• zone 4:
  • 0.3 u: 619
  • 0.5 u: 0
  • 1.0 u: 0
• 9:00 am: began surface check and wipedown, including softwalls
• 9:35 am: started vacuuming the floor
• 9:43 am: finished vacuuming the floor
• 9:45 am: started mopping the floor
• 9:55 am: finished mopping the floor
• 9:56 am: started cleaning the buckets
• 10:00 am: started mopping with IPA wipes
• 10:05 am: finished mopping with IPA wipes
• 10:20m: started particle count
  • zone 3:
    • 0.3 u: 2213
    • 0.5 u: 398
    • 1.0 u: 0
• zone 4:
  • 0.3 u: 1150
  • 0.5 u: 177
  • 1.0 u: 44

[Luke, Tyler, Cynthia, Shane, Michael]

Summary of Cleaning Activities:

We began cleaning Room 1119 at 2:00 PM.

At 2:30 PM, we moved to Room 1129 and continued cleaning.

Cleaning tasks included wiping down dust-collecting surfaces and vacuuming the floors.

Once the labs were clean, we proceeded to the cleanroom. 

• Wiping down surfaces and soft walls
• Vacuuming, mopping the floor, and finishing with IPA wipes

Particle Count Measurements:

• Pre-cleaning (2:30 PM):
  • Zone 3:
    • 0.3 µm: 973
    • 0.5 µm: 354
    • 1.0 µm: 132
  • Zone 4:
    • 0.3 µm: 486
    • 0.5 µm: 177
    • 1.0 µm: 0
• Post-cleaning (4:10 PM):
  • Zone 3:
    • 0.3 µm: 619
    • 0.5 µm: 132
    • 1.0 µm: 0
  • Zone 4:
    • 0.3 µm: 397
    • 0.5 µm: 0
    • 1.0 µm: 0

[Luke, Cece, Luis]

Particle Count Measurements:

• Pre-cleaning (12:15 PM):
  • Zone 3:
    • 0.3 µm: 1325
    • 0.5 µm: 265
    • 1.0 µm: 0
  • Zone 4:
    • 0.3 µm: 618
    • 0.5 µm: 132
    • 1.0 µm: 44

• Started Cleaning (3:20 pm)
• Finished Cleaning (4:20 pm)

• Post-cleaning (4:35 PM):
  • Zone 3:
    • 0.3 µm: 1106
    • 0.5 µm: 221
    • 1.0 µm: 0
  • Zone 4:
    • 0.3 µm: 530
    • 0.5 µm: 44
    • 1.0 µm: 0

[Luke, Mary, Luis]

Particle Count Measurements:

• Pre-cleaning (8:40 am):
  • Zone 3:
    • 0.3 µm: 441
    • 0.5 µm: 44
    • 1.0 µm: 0
  • Zone 4:
    • 0.3 µm: 353
    • 0.5 µm: 176
    • 1.0 µm: 44

• Started Cleaning (3:16 pm)
• Finished Cleaning (4:10 pm)

• Post-cleaning (4:15 pm):
  • Zone 3:
    • 0.3 µm: 574
    • 0.5 µm: 265
    • 1.0 µm: 132
  • Zone 4:
    • 0.3 µm: 177
    • 0.5 µm: 44
    • 1.0 µm: 0

[Luke, Mohak, Luis]

We were also able to remove the residue that has built up on the soft walls by donning a skinny bunny suit and with two wipes rubbing both sides of the soft walls at the same time. The wipes would get gummy very quickly and need to be replaced frequently.

Particle Count Measurements:

• Pre-cleaning (1:20 pm):
  • Zone 3:
    • 0.3 µm: 3577
    • 0.5 µm: 1369
    • 1.0 µm: 485
  • Zone 4:
    • 0.3 µm: 1062
    • 0.5 µm: 442
    • 1.0 µm: 177

• Started Cleaning (3:00 pm)
• Finished Cleaning (4:00 pm)

• Post-cleaning (4:22 pm):
  • Zone 3:
    • 0.3 µm: 3577
    • 0.5 µm: 618
    • 1.0 µm: 132
  • Zone 4:
    • 0.3 µm: 2031
    • 0.5 µm: 397
    • 1.0 µm: 132

[Luke, Luis, Tyler, Ma, Christina, Maple]

We started by cleaning outside of the cleanroom wiping down the cable channel and working our way down. We replaced the air filter in the HEPA filter with what seemed to be the last one in storage. We then vacuumed outside, before wiping down the inside of the cleanroom. We then vacuumed, mopped, and wiped down the floor inside the cleanroom.

We are ready for venting the vacuum chamber which is planned to take place 6/26/25 at 10am. 

Particle Count Measurements:

• Pre-cleaning (12:00 pm):
  • Zone 3:
    • 0.3 µm: 2517
    • 0.5 µm: 662
    • 1.0 µm: 176
  • Zone 4:
    • 0.3 µm: 177
    • 0.5 µm: 44
    • 1.0 µm: 0

• Post-cleaning (1:45 pm):
  • Zone 3:
    • 0.3 µm: 619
    • 0.5 µm: 88
    • 1.0 µm: 0
  • Zone 4:
    • 0.3 µm: 177
    • 0.5 µm: 88
    • 1.0 µm: 0

Date and Time: Around 2:20 PM on May 21, 2025

Location and Temperature:

• Back of the room, around the working station: 85.5 °F
• Front of the room, around the doorway: 82.3 °F