[Luke, Luis]

On Friday, 11/1/24, the MR was unpackaged and cleaned under the flow bench. We noticed an ink stain on one of the corners of the material. After wiping it down with IPA and Vector Alpha wipes, the stain was removed. However, the material showed some wear.

After cleaning, we placed it in the bake station and applied a stainless steel baking protocol. On Tuesday, 11/4/24, the material was removed from the furnace and packaged in a static shielding bag. The MR was wrapped in Vector Alpha wipes.

[Luke, Luis]

After the gasket replacement performed on Monday (11/18/24) we let the vacuum pump down to UHV pressure for a couple days. Today (11/20/24) we measured the pressure to be 5.30*e^-9 with a temperature of 22C, and we performed a leak test and RGA Scan.

Here are the results:

Chamber temperature: 23C

Chamber Initial Pressure: ~1.8e-8 main, ~3.5e-8 rga

Did another leak test after monday's work to check how the seal was holding up initial leak was 5.5e-9. I then tried to tighten the bolts a bit more the leak rose to 1.9e-8 about a factor of 4 change.

I checked another flange to confirm that I was preforming the test properly. I measured the elbow to pressure sensor to be 2.2e-11 aproximatly what it was earlier in the month (1.9e-11). 

I ran another isolation test. It is still exponetial. Graph attached.

Thoughts:

I belive at this point that it is a knife edge issue when replacing the gasket I checked both flanges and the new gasket. The tp knife edge seemed perfectly fine, the gasket had very minor scratches, and the reducing cross had very small imperfections on its edge. 

We may want to try and use the liquid sealant or get annealed gaskets for 4.5"

[Luke, Luis, Mary, Ma]

On 10/22/24 Luke, Ma, Mary and myself ran a leak test, the results are displayed below. The overall pressure of the vacuum was 2.0e-8 and the temperature readings were 26C for the RGA and 25C for the main volume.

[Aiden, Luis]

Tested every weld and flange to find leaks. Only found that the flange on the turbo pump and reducing nipple was still at 2e-9 torr on the leak. The chamber still rose in pressure when the two gate valves were closed but no noticeable leak could be found on the lid or welds.

[Jon, Tyler, Shane, Peter, Luis]

Today we completed the first phase of lab clean-up. Activities included:

• CF/KF parts stored under the cleanroom table were removed and transferred to Physics 1129
• Cleanroom workbench cleared, with all FROSTI hardware collected into one of the large SS bins
• High surfaces outside the cleanroom (lights, table enclosure frames, rack, cabinets) wiped down with IPA wipes
• Floor HEPA-vacuumed outside the cleanroom
• Sticky mats changed throughout the lab

Tomorrow, we will complete turn-over of the cleanroom (HEPA vacuuming of floors, mopping of floors, IPA wiping of softwalls and work surfaces). Shane will post a forthcoming measurement of the cleanroom particulate levels, post-turnover.

[Pamella, Cao and Julian, Shane]

• Particles account
• 10:37 am: Starting the particles account
1. Zone 3:
   • 0.3u: 1662
   • 0.5u: 872
   • 1.0u: 415
2. Zone 4:
   • 0.3u: 831
   • 0.5u: 124
   • 1.0u: 0
• 11:14 am: Start removal of calibrated leak to install 45 deg elbow
• 11:21 am: Elbow installed, re-install calibrated leak back on
• 11:29 am: Finished re-install calibrated leak, start installing gate valve on pump line
• 11:47 am: Finished installing gate valve, start installing reducing cross onto gate valve
• 12:02 pm: Finished installing reducing cross, start installing 90 deg elbow to reducing cross
• 12:17 pm: Finished installing reducing cross, lunch break
• 01:24 pm: Come back to the lunch break.
• 01:26 pm: Start installing vacuum hose to elbow.
• 01:40 pm: Finished installing vacuum hose.
• 01:43 pm: Start installing turbo pump.
• 02:00 pm: finished installing turbo pump .
• 02:10 pm: Start installing standard wall hose from turbo pump to scroll pump
• 02:21 pm: finished installing hose onto scroll pump, start installing lid. Remove lid from chamber, insert viton O-ring. Place lid back
• 02:30 pm: Secure lids with screw. Start installing turbo pump controller cable: Pass cable from outside (controller) up the top of clean tent and connect to 8 pin connector on turbo pump
• 03:00 pm: Installing air cooling unit for turbo pump, found 8 M3 screws for air cooling unit in the C&B cabinet to install the fan bracket onto the back of turbo pump. Fan control cable is routed up to the top of the cleanroom to the controller
• 03:15 pm: Installing full-range gauge cable to the controller outside cleanroom. Ethernet cables 1 and 2 are used. Cable 1 is used on the RGA line gauge. Cable 2 is connected to the main body gauge. Cable1 and 2 are connected controller's channel 1 and 2 respectively.
• 04:00 pm: Finish installing gauges cables. Cables are routed up along the frame to the controller sitting outside the cleanroom
• 04:15 pm: Finished. End-of-date particle count
  1. Zone 3:
     • 0.3u: 3699
     • 0.5u: 1454
     • 1.0u: 872
  2. Zone 4:
     • 0.3u: 1662
     • 0.5u: 706
     • 1.0u: 290

[Julian, Cao]

• 03:00 pm: Particle count
  1. : Zone 3
     • 0.3 um: 498
     • 0.5 um: 124
     • 1 um: 124
  2. : Zone 4
     • 0.3 um: 748
     • 0.5 um: 457
     • 1 um: 374
• 03:32 pm: Installing Pirani gauge onto pump line
• 03:51 pm: Finish installing Pirani gauge, start installing RGA probe
• 04:03 pm: Finish installing PRGA probe, start routing cable from gauge controller to Pirani gauge
• 04:30 pm: All ethernet cables are routed and connected to gauge controllers
• 04:48 pm: Power gauge controller up, all gauges are recognised and readout shows atmospheric pressure as expected (1000 mbar)
• 04:51 pm: End-of-work particle count
  1. : Zone 3
     • 0.3 um: 1413
     • 0.5 um: 872
     • 1 um: 623
  2. : Zone 4
     • 0.3 um: 374
     • 0.5 um: 166
     • 1 um: 166

1. Macor spacer (drawing: LIGO_Redesign_Macor_Spacer_Drawing_v4.pdf attached below), quantities: 40
   • No defects, damages observed
   • Parts are free from grease/ machining fluid
   • Wall thickness of 1 mm appear to provide sufficient stiffness to part
   • Images of parts: Macor_spacer_0.jpg, Macor_spacer_1.jpg
2. Macor 5-40 UNC screw (drawing: LIGO_Redesign_Macor_Screw_Drawing_v6.pdf attached below), quantities: 20
   • One screw broke, location of break: should edge between head and shaft (see image Macor_screw_5.jpg )
   • All other screws look ok, no damage observed, clean surface overall
   • Images: Macor_screw_0.jpg , Macor_screw_4.jpg

Attached below are the initial results of the CIT FROSTI testing analysis.

Below is the proposed schematic for FROSTI optical testing, chosen so enough space is allotted for prototype assembly.

Steps to be taken include:

1. Reconstruct FLIR staging apparatus
2. Move test mass stand-in to cleanroom
3. Mark FLIR camera position on cleanroom optical table at correct distance
4. Run ethernet cable into cleanroom
5. Move FLIR aside to allow for more assembly space
6. Upon assembly completion, reposition FLIR onto optical table again

Tentative plan is to begin setup early next week.

[Luis, Luke, Ma Michael]

The isolation test was conducted on the vacuum system. Every pump was turned off under vacuum, and pressure measurements were taken every minute for 15 minutes. The results are displayed in the sheet linked at the end of this report. The pressure of the main volume dropped very slowly.

The pressure of the RGA Volume dropped in an exponential manner. The test had to be paused at 11 minutes due to concerns about the pressure exceeding the lowest permitted level for the RGA filament.

After the ISO test was performed, we attempted to tighten the bolts of the small turbo pump on the RGA Volume. However, we noticed that the pressure had increased by nearly an order of magnitude, going from 3.27 × 10^-9 Torr to 1.45 × 10^-8 Torr when both volumes were separated. We conducted a leak test for that particular flange and found a concerning leak of 2.15 × 10^-8 Torr, which had previously been 1.9 × 10^-9 Torr. We believe the copper seal was damaged during the ISO test.

View the results sheet

Screen Setup

The screen was set up by clamping it between two rectangular posts on each side. First, two posts were set up with 22 in. between them (thus allowing the screen to span a total distance of up to 24 in. when clamped down). To best stabilize the screen and to allow for it to be "pulled" taut by exploiting the give in the L-bracket, the L-bracket was bolted on the outside of the post, along the same axis as the screen itself.

On first attempt, the screen was too thin to be fully clamped between the posts. In order to have it fit snugly, sections of heat shrink tubing was used as a shim at the points where the posts were clamped together. The tubing was slid into the track of one optical post at the desired points. In order to accommodate the shim, the two posts had to be held together, ideally clamped, with the screen and shim in place. Then, the post clamps could be slid into the tracks of the post, moved to the optimal location, and tightened down. This required at least three people: two to tighten one side while the third holds up the screen on the other side. The screen was placed ~1/8" from the edge of the posts and flush with the top.

Camera Stage Setup

Once the screen was in place, the camera stage was set up by placing the XY-Translational with Rotation stage on four 3" optical posts. Then, the z-axis stage was placed in the center of that, with another 3" optical post on top, which was then topped with the camera. This was set and clamped down ~22.5" from the screen. This was about 1" closer than expected based on our theoretical models.

Fine Alignment

We used the visible camera to fine align the screen and to test the setup. Notably, the visible camera is placed below the infrared and thus requires a calibration in order to ensure the two are aligned on the computer image. This can be set by hand using the FLIR proprietary software (FLIR CamWeb) and adjusting the "MSX alignment". The image mode "Thermal MSX" allows both the visible and IR camera to be displayed at once and the difference in their positioning can be seen. We found an offset of ~0.5m to be nearly accurate (note: using this method, although you can get more accurate than this, the displayed value only has one significant figure).

In order to align the camera, we first used the exposed top edge to judge whether the camera was appropriately centered on the screen. We set the rotation as close as possible to being in line by eye, then adjusted the y-axis until the gap on both corners was a similar size, thus indicating that the rotation and y-position were correctly set. Rotationally, the camera required only a refinement of -1/2 degree. The y-axis is set at 1.25. Then, the camera was pulled as far from the screen as possible using the x-axis to allow the screen to be easily centered using the z-axis. Once the outlined test mass was centered, the x-axis was used to bring the camera close until the screen just barely filled the field of view. The x-axis is at 2.25. The z axis is set to it full dynamic range at 10. Unfortunately, the camera is still slightly too tall for the screen, likely requiring the purchase of a new optical post about 0.5in shorter the current one. This interchange will likely require a new fine alignment after.

Basic Imaging Tests

The camera was also focused on the screen based on the manufacturer's printed distance on the camera itself (using 22.5", or 0.572 m). Using the FLIR proprietary software, the camera appears to be in focus in IR (a hand was used as a good focusing tool for this). Additionally, the camera does pick up heat on the other side of the screen. A hand can be lightly seen warming the screen, as can a soldering iron tip. This was a very imprecise visual tool, but does indicate that the camera and screen are working roughly as expected.

Next Steps

A new optical post that is ~2.5" tall should be ordered to replace the one under the camera currently. The heating system also needs to be ordered and set up. Currently we are debating between a parabolic reflector with a hole in the back, and one without, as each would require a different mounting mechanism for the cartridge heater.

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 port 80)

Step 2: Run the following command

sudo certbot certonly --force-renew -d richardsonlab.ucr.edu

Step 3: Confirm the certificate was renewed by running the following command

sudo certbot certificates

The display resolution of the logrus has been 1064x768 and has been the only option, which is not great. While remote access to logrus using rdesktop allows rendering a virtual display of user's chosen resolution, it is not fast when using graphic-intensive program. NoMachine allows user to take over and control the machine remotely and thus appears as the same machine. However, NoMachine cannot render a virtual display like rdesktop. This has been limiting the resolution of using logrus via NoMachine.

On Friday, I found that even though we had NVIDIA Quadro P600 graphic card installed, we were not actually using it. The monitor has been connecting to the the integrated VGA display connector. This uses Microsoft Basic Display Adapter which limits the the resolution. Today I got a HDMI to Mini-display cable to connector the monitor to the Nvidia graphic card. Then in Display settings, go to Graphic settings, then enable Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling. After restarting the machine, the machine recognised the Display 2using the Nvidia Quadro P600. In multiple displays field, selected "Show only on 2" and remove the VGA connection to the monitor. Logrus is now set at Nvidia Qadro P600 native display resolution of 1920x1080. This is now also the display resolution in NoMachine.

On the 5th I had tried to start baking the vacuum chamber however certain parts of the chamber were getting too hot and causing the controllers to shut off. So I turned them off so that the next day I could rearrange the temperature probes. I then on the 6th set them up so that instead of overshooting the temperature they would be a little low in places.

After being left over night the cooler parts of the vacuum chamber got much closer to the desired temperature of 120C.

Here is a table of the temperatures of the sections of the chamber. Note: After these measurements were taken the PID controllers were set to 125C.

Here is a table of temperature of the flanges that have electronics.

Other temperatures of note:

The optical table was about 38C

The cleanroom was around 33C (~91F)

Heating system installation - Second day.

• Today we kept installing the equipment for the heating system.
• First: Started installing the two heating cable around the chamber vacuum, the arms and covered it with aluminum tape.
• Second: Started installing the insulation stuff around the vacuum chamber and around the connections points (the arms) in the vacuum chamber.
• Third:Started installing the heater system (electronic device) and tried testing.
• Note: The around part of the chamber vacuum was difficult to cover, so we spent a little time on. Also one heater system electronic device wasn't working because one fuse is burned so we could not finished this part and we need wait for a new one to replace and working on it.

[Luke, Tyler, Jon]

On the 3rd we set up the pid controllers for the heater tapes and after putting on the insulation we started heating them up. We first brought it to ~50C and let it stabilize, there was about a 6-7 degree difference between the RGA and the barrel temperature, with the barrel being higher. We then brought it to 60 then 70C it still maintained the slight difference between the RGA and barrel temperatures.

Here is a table of the temperatures of the flanges connected to electronics as I left it.

Notes: I removed the electronics from the pressure gauge (main volume) because while it was below the required threshold it was still quite high compared to the other flanges.

Cleaning the heater system parts.
• 04:32 pm: Started wiping the heater system parts.
• 06:38 pm: Finished wiping the heater and some parts to the system. I wiped, tagged and bagged the heater system, power cables, adapter cables and power connectors. Also I wiped, bagged and tagged the aluminum foil tape.
• 06:43 pm: I putted all bags inside the cleanroom.
• To do: I started but I was not able to finished wiping the heating and cords for the heater system so I will finished this parts after.
• I attached the photos below.

Heating system

Wiping the heater system parts.
• 04:37 pm: Started wiping the electronic device part for the heater system (HL101 Series Digital Benchtop temperature limit control).
• 05:19 pm: Finished wiping the parts to the heater system (HL101 Series Digital Benchtop temperature limit control). I wiped the HL101 Series Digital Benchtop temperature limit control and I didn't bagged and tagged because we should install that soon.
• 05:23 pm: I putted heater electronic device inside the cleanroom without the bag. Also the electronic device is near to the vacuum chamber and the other parts to heater system.
• I attached the photo below.

Heating system installation

• Today we started installing the equipments for the heating system.
• First: Started installing the heating cable on the top lid and covered it with aluminum tape.
• Second: Started installing the insulation cover on top of the chamber lid.
• Third:Started installing the heating cable from under the vacuum chamber and covered with aluminum tape.
• Forth: Started installing the insulation cover under the vacuum chamber
• Note: The under part of the chamber vacuum was very difficult to cover, so we spent a little time on it and we couldn't finish the whole installation today. So tomorrow we should be able to keep doing the installation.

Group Meeting slides for Non-deterministic Heater Response.

This afternoon I made up a green 10 AWG grounding cable and connected it to the vacuum system.

One end is tightly connected to the bottom flange of the vacuum chamber (photo 1). It is run along and up the table framing to the top of the cleanroom, where it exits into the overhead cable tray in the same location as the other power cables. It drops down from the top of the server rack all the way to the bottom, where the other end is connected to the lab's electrical ground in the rear of the 240 V UPS (photo 2).

The connections were confirmed to be secure, but continuity testing with an ohmmeter remains to be done to confirm that the chamber and tabletop are indeed grounded.

[Cao]

Continuity Test

• Chamber wall to optical table: continuity confirmed, resistance: 0 Ohm
• Chamber wall to ground point connection on chamber: continuity confirmed, resistance: 0 Ohm
• Turbo pump to ground point connection on chamber: continuity confirmed, resistance: 0 Ohm
• Turbo pump to optical table: continuity confirmed, resistance: 0 Ohm
• Optical table to chassis frame outside cleanroom: continuity confirmed, resistance: 0 Ohm
• Front of chassis frame to earth point: continuity confirmed, resistance: 0 Ohm