Tue Jul 9 18:19:50 2024, Shane, Update, CDS, ADC-DAC loopback testing and IOLAN installation  
|
[Shane, Jon]
Finished ADC-DAC loopback testing today (see attached xlsx file or access directly here).
All looks well with the first 8 channels, with the gain hovering just under 2. Also edited c1msc model in simulink to add channels 7-15 (the last 8 channels),
and changed the rate back to 64K. See image 1 for the updated c1msc model. The last 8 channels are also looking good and show no problems, with slightly |
Tue Jul 16 18:43:07 2024, Shane, Update, CDS, ADC-DAC loopback testing and IOLAN installation
|
UPDATE:
Follow up ADC-DAC loopback testing now complete, matching all the ADC channels to a single DAC channel, and then matching all the DAC channels
to a single ADC channel (see attached xlsx file or access directly here).
Also note c1msc model file has been updated to include the second set of 16 ADC channels. The newly added channels also have their own filter modules, |
Fri Aug 2 13:50:22 2024, Shane, Update, CDS, Serial Comm. Test (Agilent Turbo Pump)
|
Did a brief communication test with the agilent turbo pump today, to see if we could get serial communications up and running for it. Used a simplified
python script with sockets package to establish a connection and send a simple command to query the pump's operational status. The connection was successful,
and had no issues establishing. The command also sent successfully, and received a response. The response didn't make sense, though, as all the possible |
Tue Oct 1 19:41:23 2024, Shane, Update, CDS, CyMAC Timing Chassis Issue  
|
[Shane, Luis]
Summary of the issue we've been having with the timing chassis: when we connect only the Valon 5015 to power, the timing signal comes
out of it sinusoidal as expected and the status lights are steady and all looks good. As soon as we connect the 3010 to power, the signal (both coming
out of the 5015 and coming out of the 3010) go flat and the status lights of the 5015 start to flicker.
We think what may be going on is that the 5015 |
Thu Oct 3 19:35:04 2024, Shane, Update, Cleanroom, Cleanroom cleaning and particle count
|
[Luke, Michael, Cynthia, Mary]
cleaning cleanroom and particle count
12:25 pm: started particle count
zone 3: 0.3 u: 46140.5 u: 8721.0 u:83
zone
4: 0.3 u: 24110.5 u: 4151.0 u: 83
12:48 pm: began surface check and wipedown, including |
Thu Oct 17 13:24:23 2024, Shane, Update, CDS, Timing Chassis issue identified 
|
[Ma, Luis, Shane]
Working theory for the timing chassis issues had been that the 1A breaker was tripping and
causing the failure of the Valon 5015 and 3010 to output the timing signal correctly. We just tried bypassing the breaker, running 6 V on the benchtop
power supply (set the current limit to 1.5A), with the 5010 generating the sine wave to pass to the 3010. All worked correctly, and there were no issues. |
Fri Oct 25 10:56:30 2024, Shane, Update, CDS, Timing Chassis fixed and reinstalled
|
[Ma, Shane]
We replaced the 1A breaker in the timing chassis today with a 4A one, and tested that all is working
well. The chassis successfully outputted the correct signal (image attached). The real time models have also been restarted and the CyMAC diagnostics screen
is showing all green flags. Timing chassis has been closed up and reinstalled in the server rack. |
Thu Nov 14 11:58:05 2024, Shane, Update, CDS, Turbo pump connection troubleshooting
|
Attempted connection to the TV551 turbo pump through Varian/Agilent's software on spica. Successful connection established, and we are able to read out
al the readings associated with the pump (status, temperature, etc) through the software, which is actually pretty extensive and well organized. Was able
to stop and restart the pump with no issues. Serial communications seem to be working fine, and the current serial settings (baud rate 9600, serial type |
Wed Dec 4 16:01:23 2024, Shane, Update, CDS, Vac serial interfacing troubleshooting update
|
Update on the issue with serial interfacing for the TV 551 turbo pump: Tried a new test today, to see if the commands being sent to the controller were
actually getting through at all, since we know that no response is getting back to us. To test this, I sent the start/stop command for the pump, disconnected
the serial connection and instead connected the controller to spica so I could run the manufacturer's software, and used the manufacturer's sotware to |
Wed Feb 19 13:44:48 2025, Shane, Update, CDS, Vac serial interfacing update
|
[Jon, Shane]
Debugging update for vac system serial communications: we were able to successfully connect the smaller
turbo pump to the Varian (manufacturer) software today by plugging the controller db9 directly into spica, and verified that the pump was able to send
and receive information. Still no success on communication with the larger pump via python serial code, though. Issue potentially lies in the pinout mapping |
Thu Feb 27 18:22:21 2025, Shane, Update, CDS, Ongoing work in server rack and desk area (1119)
|
As part of the vacuum communications debugging process, there is ongoing work in the server rack and desk area in 1119. Please be careful not to move any
of the materials left out in the server rack or on the work bench. |
Tue Mar 4 10:47:03 2025, Shane, Update, CDS, Vac system pinouts 
|
Attached here are the pinouts, as we currently know them, for the vacuum system. The three items focused on here are the Agilent TwissTorr 74 FS turbo pump
(the smaller/newer pump) and controller, the Agilent TV 551 Navigator turbo pump (the larger/older pump) and controller, and the Eight-channel Perle IOLAN
SDS8 terminal server. The 'field' pinouts in the attached tables refer to the DB9 end of the RJ45F to DB9F converter. |
Wed Mar 5 12:16:28 2025, Shane, Update, CDS, Vac system communications update
|
[Shane, Jon]
Update on the serial interfacing with the vacuum system: both turbo pumps are now able to successfully communicate through the code. The older
pump, for unknown reasons, required a newer version of the communication syntax (despite the newer, small pump being able to communicate fine with the |
Wed Mar 5 18:13:20 2025, Shane, Update, CDS, vac system comms
|
[Shane, Jon]
Update on the serial interfacing with the Inficon VGC503 pressure gauge: We began setup of the Inficon pressure gauge today. We configured the ethernet
setting via USB and assigned it a static IP address of 192.168.1.30, which is listed in the network table on the lab wiki. It is showing up on the network |
Mon Mar 10 17:03:52 2025, Shane, Update, CDS, Pressure Gauge successful connect
|
Vac system serial interfacing update: the pressure gauge is now able to communicate successfully through the code. It's been set to a static ip of 192.168.1.30,
on port 8000. |
Wed Apr 30 13:42:45 2025, Shane, Update, CDS, UPS comms successful
|
Update on UPS1 serial interfacing: communication is now successful. On 4/15/25 we connected to UPS1 via ethernet rather than USB, and manually added its
static ip address (noted in lab network wiki) to the router. Able to connect and unpack all desired data nicely using telnet server connection via telnetlib.
In process of finalizing code and will work next on interfacing UPS2. |
Sun Apr 10 15:39:49 2022, Rutuja Gurav, HowTo, Computer Scripts/Programs, HowTo: Renew the Let's Encrypt SSL certificate using certbot
|
Port 80 is kept closed by default. This might be causing the certbot auto-renewal cronjob to fail. Therefore we must renew the certificate manually.
Step 1: Open port 80. (This is needed as the certificate renewal process runs some tests which requires client communication over |
Tue Feb 13 13:02:41 2024, Pooyan, Update, Interferometer Simulations, Cacity sacn of Fabry-Perot
|
| Created a simple model of Fabry-Perot cavity in SIS, and did a cavity scan. Total power in the cavity, 00 mode, and HOMs is measured. |
Wed Mar 27 00:03:57 2024, Pooyan, Update, Computers, Chimay relocation to Physics 1129 
|
[Jon, Pooyan]
Moved Chimay from the server rack in Physics 1119 to a new rack in Physics 1129. It is connected to the switch in that rack
and has the same ip address as before.
All services are up and running.
It appears that JupyterHub creates some processes whenever a user
connects to an instance of it, but in some cases does not stop those processes after the user is not using that instance. This results in having lots of |
Mon Apr 8 14:43:29 2024, Pooyan, Update, Interferometer Simulations, SIS update single and coupled cavities 
|
[Pooyan, Cynthia]
Attached is a brief recap PDF file. A video file showing separate HOMs plots for the cavity scan with ETM08 surface map is also
attached.
The codes are available at https://git.ligo.org/uc_riverside/hom-rh/-/tree/main/SIS |
Mon Jun 24 21:38:25 2024, Pooyan, Infrastructure, Computers, Computer server changes in 1119 and 1129 
|
[Jon, Pooyan, Tyler]
A few computer machine changes have been made. |
Mon Jul 15 14:28:32 2024, Pooyan, Update, Interferometer Simulations, aLIGO test mass surface profiles
|
Created a Google Slides presentation to summarize all the mirror surface map information that we use for simulating interferometers.
A+ expected maps are based on correspondence with G. Billingsley. The estimate for the A+ ITMs will be to take the “as polished” data and add coating
non-uniformity to it. (T2000398) Neither of these are scaled for the precise thickness of the Ti:Ge coatings. |
Mon Jul 15 14:49:06 2024, Pooyan, Update, Computers, Synology NAS server setup
|
Installed a Synology NAS server (Synology RackStation RS1221) in lab room 1129, with host name “scribe” and ip “192.168.1.17”. It is mounted on the rack
and each of its 8 storage bays has a 2TB SSD disk. It will be used to set up automated backups of all the lab machines (e.g., chimay, logrus, megatron).
One shared storage is set on it with SHR-2 as its RAID type. It can tolerate the failure of two disks and has 10.4TB of total capacity. |
Mon Sep 9 14:27:36 2024, Pooyan, Infrastructure, Computers, Chimay backup attempt
|
One ongoing work is to make all lab machines automatically backed-up on Scribe on a daily basis. The updates should be boatable and stored for some time
(potentially a few weeks) on Scribe. Making whole disk images has already been tried for some of the machines with no problems. (e.g., Cymac and WorkStations)
The same thing can not be done with Chimay though, as it currently has one huge RAID-controlled volume that stores all the information (OS, home |
Tue Jun 3 11:50:08 2025, Pooyan, Update, CDS, CDS update
|
There are three major issues with the lab's CDS system that should be addressed. They are ordered from the highest priority to the lowest.
CyMAC has stopped serving the fast channels (65k Hz)The channels are still there, and the data from the slow (16 Hz) channels is served correctly, but the fast data is not served. As a result, diagggui |
Tue Jun 10 12:11:14 2025, Pooyan, Update, CDS, CDS update
|
The MEDM models issue was fixed. The issue was that building the c1msc model alone was not enough and we had to re-build the c1iop as well, although
no changes has been made to the c1iop. Added a note in the wiki on this for future reference.
For
writing the fast channels to the frame files, our CDS system should have a GDS broadcaster. I followed this |
Wed Jun 11 16:19:37 2025, Pooyan, Update, CDS, CDS update 
|
Fast channels recorded to .gwf frame files
Had to add a DAQ Channels block to the c1msc model for those channel to be recorded in the
.gwf frame files. The block is in the CDS_PARTS, and I just had to copy it to our model. Here is the example text for the channels: |
Wed Jun 11 16:33:45 2025, Pooyan, Update, Computers, Luke's ray tracing hosting
|
Hosted Lukes model on Chimay. It's available at https://richardsonlab.ucr.edu/real-time-frosti
The
sourcecode is at Github. It is clones at /var/www/html/real-time-frosti, and
this is the block added to nginx config file at /etc/nginx/sites-available/default : |
Tue Aug 19 12:33:59 2025, Pooyan, Update, TCS, A# BS Update
|
| |
Thu Jan 22 13:18:12 2026, Pooyan, Infrastructure, General, Lab floor plans
|
The working document of tasks regarding moving the clean room is attached. Needs LIGO account to access and edit.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14HhMYBcHmM62Hc1YJhinMsG5uPx6xoW0WEBmDcbNMMg/edit?usp=sharing
|
Thu Mar 5 12:08:47 2026, Pooyan, Infrastructure, Cleanroom, Cleanroom HEPA fan defect    
|
[Pooyan, Ma, Mary, Tyler]
While re-installing the clean-room HEPA fan filters, we realized that one of the blowers is broken. The issue seems to be that the plastic damper
bracket that is keeping the blower in place has failed. The fix is to open up the fan unit, and replace the broken vibration damper. We installed the |
Wed Mar 11 19:38:21 2026, Pooyan, Infrastructure, Cleanroom, Parts and things to get after the cleanroom move 8x
|
concrete Caulk to fill the drill holes in 1119
Example [Pooyan:
I have a caulk gun and silicon caulk at home, if needed.]
Water hose for the washer in 1125
1/2" diameter
almost
8 Ft
Exhaust for the oven in 1125
Question: not sure which way we want the exhaust to go. Measurements depend |
Sun Apr 19 15:22:08 2026, Pooyan, Infrastructure, Cleanroom, HEPA fan air flow measurment
|
[Ma, Mary, Tyler, Pooyan]
HEPA fan air flow measurements are done with the fans sitting on their side in the lab, and the anemometer being 24in away from the filter face
of the fan. Per company's documents, we need to replace the filter if the air flow velocity drops under 38-45 fpm for the medium settings.) |
Sun May 3 21:13:14 2026, Pooyan, Infrastructure, Cleanroom, Cleanroom HEPA fan install
|
[Ma, Cece, Pooyan, Tyler]
We installed the repaired HEPA fans on top of the cleanroom, and cleaned the fans themselves. The table of all the Serial Numbers for the fans,
filters, and where they are installed is added for the record. |
Tue Jul 21 17:58:36 2026, Pooyan, Update, CDS, Cymac DAQ channel add for long-term recording
|
Changed the sample rate of Cymac ADC channels V3 and VREF6 to 65 kHz for long-time recording. (65536 to be exact)
Here is a how-to for future reference:
On Cymac, open Matlab and go to the medm model at '/opt/rtcds/usercode/models/c1msc.mdl'
On the left hand side, there |
Mon Aug 3 12:23:03 2026, Pooyan, Infrastructure, CDS, Cymac backup schedule
|
Backup plan for the CyMAC machine:
Cymac
Full image backup
Every Saturday at 3:00 am
One image for the whole machine. can be copied
to a new disk and
booted.
Only one version is kept
uses abb-cli on cymac. It’s the Synology agent script
Controlled by the |
Wed Aug 17 16:04:30 2022, Phoebe Zyla, Summary, Lore, Testing the Cartridge Heater and Collecting FLIR Data   
|
We have tested the heater to find emissivity, mounted the heater system to the optical table, and have taken irradiance maps of the heater projected
onto the screen.
The heater's emissivity was determined by using a thermocouple in conjunction with the FLIR's temperature calibration. To attach
the thermocouple to the heater initially, I used Kapton tape and ran both the wires of the heater and the thermocouple through the heater bridge. This |
Fri Jul 22 13:20:28 2022, Phoebe, Update, , Comsol
|
I will be using comsol until 1:30 pm today. I will be updating the model for the heater mount to be thicker in certain areas, so that it can feasibly be
3D printed. Specifically, the radius of the center cartridge mount has been increased to add thickness to the pipe and the arms of the bridge. This will
allow us to print with a much smaller chance for error, as the printer can print objects with a minimum length of 1 mm. |
Mon Jan 23 17:26:15 2023, Peter Carney, Update, General, Oven cleaning
|
Aiden and Cao
Turned on the oven to 120 deg C for 12 hours. After 12 hours, put it at 200 deg C for 48 hours. |
Sat Feb 4 17:01:03 2023, Peter, Update, VLC Electronics, Laser Data 
|
Peter and Ryan took laser beam data. Configuration: 100mm focal length lens is ~100mm from lens. 150mm focal length lens is ~200mm from first lens. Beam
waist is ~420mm from second lens.
Beam waist is very small still. Had to input large amounts of error in data collection. Took width data successively
at points near waist and at >= Rayleigh range. Plots are shown below.
Key points:
Took a while to figure out optimum configuration for lenses to |
Tue Feb 28 19:31:05 2023, Peter, Update, VLC Electronics, 532 M2 Measurements
|
Took M2 measurements today. Configuration: Lens 1 (f = 50mm) at 0mm. Lens 2 (f = 150mm) at 200mm, camera at 350mm. The laser beam was being moved in -z
direction on track (so further away from the first lens). Quick data shown in the sheets plot. Not a real fit. I was trying to see where the beam waist
was if there even was one. Seems that it is much further than we have room for on the track. Will need to come back and take more data.
I suggest maybe |
Tue Feb 28 19:33:51 2023, Peter, Update, , 532 M2 Measurements
|
| Y axis of plot in units of micrometers. X axis in units of millimeters. |
Thu Mar 9 12:03:59 2023, Peter, Update, VLC Electronics, 532 M2 Measurements  
|
Took more M2 Data today. Picture of the optical set up is shown below. lens1 f = 100mm, lens2 f = 50mm, lens3 f = 150mm. There was a nice converging/diverging
beam profile, and the beam waist was able to be read by the camera. I took as much data as I could before clipping loss. The M2 value is quite high. |
Fri Mar 10 12:08:09 2023, Peter, Update, VLC Electronics, 532 M2 Measurements 
|
Took more M2 laser data today. The configuration is the same as before except now the beam camera is the only component moving. Pictures can be seen below.
The beam shape in x and y is very consistent with low error. However, the M2 value is still a bit high. |
Tue Apr 4 09:39:58 2023, Peter, Update, VLC Electronics, 532 M2 Measurements   
|
Final M squared measurements were taken Wednesday, 3/29/23 by Peter and Ryan Hinosawa. 5 separate sets of data were taken, and upon discussion, we declared
the plots shown below in attachment 1 and 2 as the final plots of our M squared measurements.
The optical design of the M squared measurement process
is given in attachment 3. The laser and three lenses shown below are mounted on the optical table. The track is placed behind the third lens, and the camera |
Tue Apr 4 09:53:37 2023, Peter, Update, VLC Update, Laser intensity/polarization drift measurements
|
The set up for the next round of beam characterization measurements has begun. The beam is initially passing through a half waveplate, is split at a polarizing
beam splitter, and then stirring mirrors are used to properly aim the beam into photodiodes (not yet installed). This is the current configuration of the
set up. |
Thu Apr 6 10:20:43 2023, Peter, Update, VLC Update, Laser intensity/polarization drift measurements
|
More optical components were added to the optical set up for laser intensity / polarization drift measurements. Both lenses and both PDs were added to the
configuration, as seen in the image below. The beam is already well aligned into the center of both of PDs, and focused nicely by the lens.
Both PD's
take BNC connecting cables, and the Red Pitaya takes SMA connecting cables. Since we are currently without a BNC to SMA cable, and we do not want to cut, |
Fri Apr 28 11:21:01 2023, Peter, Update, VLC Update, Laser intensity/polarization drift measurements
|
The Digi-key cables have arrived, and I have began implementing them in the intensity drift measurements.
There was a slight problem initially in connecting
the SMA to BNC cables from the photodiode to the red pitaya, since the red pitaya was way on the other side of the lab. Cao and I connected the red pitaya
to a new ethernet cable that extended far enough for the red pitaya to sit comfortably on the breadboard with the optics.
Right now the PDAs are not |
Mon May 1 18:56:57 2023, Peter, Update, VLC Electronics, 532nm Intensity Measurement 
|
I've configured the two PDA's to the Red Pitaya. I put a 50 ohm resistor connector to each red pitaya input port. This was because the oscilloscope showed
that the voltage reading from the P polarization PDA was almost at 1V, which was the limit of the red pitaya. Once both S and P polarization PDA's were
connected, I opened the red pitaya's oscilloscope. A screenshot of the voltage readings is shared below. Channel 1 (Yellow) is for S polarization. Channel |
Tue May 2 15:55:33 2023, Peter, Update, VLC Electronics, 532nm Intensity Measurement   
|
I changed the 1/2 wave plate from the lens mount to the rotational optic mount. This allowed me to rotate the 1/2 wave plate, which changed the respective
polarization power transmitting through S and P polarization. Initially, more power was coupled into the P polarization. Now, with the 1/2 plate rotated,
both channels are experiencing the same voltage reading. Before feeding the PDA signals into the red pitaya, a 50 ohm terminator had to be placed at the |