ELOG SBOX commissioning

Images of the SBox mirrors cleaned at the same time when the cavity was aligned.

Directly from the spincoater to the SBox directly.

PowerPoint attached shows details

Manar Amer wrote:

Used the spincoater and pure water to clean dielectric mirrors which will be installed inside the SBox for directing the reflection line.

The method : place pure alchole on mirror - wipe it using white sterile tissue (in one direction) - clean with pure water in spincoater suing cotton swap .

After multible rounds, the result in the images was obtained. there is still a significant amount of dust particles (not all could be dust!!).

Not sure if the reason is the cleaning method ?? will invistegate it more !!!

Manar Amer wrote:

In preparation for cleaning the mirrors.

The spincoater has been moved with its bump into the sas of the SBox.

The pure water used will be provided by Alice, as the previous source in the workshop is not available.

Mon May 9 18:36:48 2022

Last week In FP cavity we had all SBox mirrors including the damaged M1 mirror.

The beating was observed with just a slight adjustment on M4 alignment.

In addition, it was also observed while driving the piezo of the CW laser.

In the attached image of the beam at transmission point at M2 mirror, the shape of the beam is deformed.

one of the factors could be related to the damaged spot on M1 mirror. The deformation position can also be seen in the higher order modes.

after changing the injection mirror to Gamma factory M1, this deformation should disappear.

Manar Amer wrote:

Finished the alignment of the SBox with M1 of SBox placed, to be changed to gamma factory mirror later

Observed what seems to be transmission through M2 mirror, to be confirmed. image attached shows it

a PowerPoint attached showing the details of today's work.

Manar Amer wrote:

Adjust the placement of the Irises (done at the start of the day, adjusted at the end when M1 mirror was placed)
Improvement on the Ma1 and Ma2 (The Alignment Mirrors)
- Improves the alignment a bit. There is an observation where there is no symmetry in the image, concluded to be because of the pinholes that are usually used for the alignment the circle cut is not symmetric (took images on phone of pinholes)
- This explains why, for the pinhole used on M1, we see a little more symmetry than the pinhole used on M2.
- Placed M1 mirror from Sbox (with damage spot in the middle), after cleaning it using the spincoater, only used to adjust the injection into the mirror where it will give Horizontal displacement due to the thickness of the mirror.
- Last position of the motors attached
Installed the 2 dielectric mirrors for the reflection line
Did a rough alignment for the reflection line to have it exit through the reflection window.

Note about mirrors : They were cleaned a year a go and placed in the boxes. When opened the box and seen under microscope they were very dirty with dust particle

Specially from the back, I believe the boxes have dust in them (to be verified under the UV light / Microscope !!!!!!!! )

Manar Amer wrote:

Remember to update the position of the reference Irises tomorrow !!!!

Manar Amer wrote:

After pointers and Advice from Aurélien,

improvement of the beam alignment through M1 and M2 irises was done.

To improve the image on the beam profiler, I cleaned the alignment mirrors and the windows using pure ethanol and optical lens cleaning tissue,

a significant improvement after cleaning the inside of M2 Window. Images have less dust diffraction rings.

Attached new images of the beam:

New Ma1 and Ma2 motor position
After M1 pinhole optimized (saturated)
After M2 and M1 pinhole optimizing (saturated and not)

Manar Amer wrote:

SBox alignment, using CW laser Koheras power 1 mW

Finished M1 and M2 alignment using the diffraction patterns seen on the beam profiler, the beam fit is not very good ?? (image taken)
Positions of Ma1 and Ma2 motors are registered (image taken)
Placed Fixed 2 irises at M1 window and M2 window (Image taken while both are closed)
Distance between the collimator and beam profiler ~ 2 m
Distance between collimator and M1 diaphragm ~ 1 m
Distance between collimator and M2 diaphragm ~ 1.6 m

Manar Amer wrote:

Starting with the alignment of the KBox using CW Koheras.

The size of the CW output from the collimator at 1 meter from is ~ 2.4 mm, to be adjusted with lenses to match the cavity !!! (attached image)

For the 2 alignment mirrors, I am only able to control 3 axes for now (motor issue for the fourth to be fixed !!) , Horizontal and vertical for Ma1 and Horizontal for Ma2(closes to injection window).

Started with only irises placed on both the M1 and M2. Placed a beam profiler at the window behind M2 to observe an output beam.

Motors position for the 3 axes and beam shape and position after M2 attached.

Mon May 9 19:05:35 2022

Today; replaced the M1 SBox mirror with M1 from gamma factory , following the previous alignment.

Removed all mirrors and cleaned them one by one.

Started with no M1, placed M2 did its alignment through M3 pinhole, then placed M3 aligned it through M4 pinhole, then placed M4 aligned it through M1 pinhole.

Placed M1 Gamma factory at the end

Note: mirror is new was not used before, took image on microscope there was no dust in the center, but there was little on the edges (cleaned it using spin-coater)

beating of fundamental mode observed (at M2 transmission) immediately with very higher order modes, slight adjustment on M4 suppressed them.

The beam is not circular and still has some deformation, M1 was changed, so it could be a damaged point at one of the other mirrors (to be investigated tomorrow)!!

No significant damage seen on the other mirrors.

Manar Amer wrote:

Last week In FP cavity we had all SBox mirrors including the damaged M1 mirror.

The beating was observed with just a slight adjustment on M4 alignment.

In addition, it was also observed while driving the piezo of the CW laser.

In the attached image of the beam at transmission point at M2 mirror, the shape of the beam is deformed.

one of the factors could be related to the damaged spot on M1 mirror. The deformation position can also be seen in the higher order modes.

after changing the injection mirror to Gamma factory M1, this deformation should disappear.

Manar Amer wrote:

Finished the alignment of the SBox with M1 of SBox placed, to be changed to gamma factory mirror later

Observed what seems to be transmission through M2 mirror, to be confirmed. image attached shows it

a PowerPoint attached showing the details of today's work.

Manar Amer wrote:

Adjust the placement of the Irises (done at the start of the day, adjusted at the end when M1 mirror was placed)
Improvement on the Ma1 and Ma2 (The Alignment Mirrors)
- Improves the alignment a bit. There is an observation where there is no symmetry in the image, concluded to be because of the pinholes that are usually used for the alignment the circle cut is not symmetric (took images on phone of pinholes)
- This explains why, for the pinhole used on M1, we see a little more symmetry than the pinhole used on M2.
- Placed M1 mirror from Sbox (with damage spot in the middle), after cleaning it using the spincoater, only used to adjust the injection into the mirror where it will give Horizontal displacement due to the thickness of the mirror.
- Last position of the motors attached
Installed the 2 dielectric mirrors for the reflection line
Did a rough alignment for the reflection line to have it exit through the reflection window.

Note about mirrors : They were cleaned a year a go and placed in the boxes. When opened the box and seen under microscope they were very dirty with dust particle

Specially from the back, I believe the boxes have dust in them (to be verified under the UV light / Microscope !!!!!!!! )

Manar Amer wrote:

Remember to update the position of the reference Irises tomorrow !!!!

Manar Amer wrote:

After pointers and Advice from Aurélien,

improvement of the beam alignment through M1 and M2 irises was done.

To improve the image on the beam profiler, I cleaned the alignment mirrors and the windows using pure ethanol and optical lens cleaning tissue,

a significant improvement after cleaning the inside of M2 Window. Images have less dust diffraction rings.

Attached new images of the beam:

New Ma1 and Ma2 motor position
After M1 pinhole optimized (saturated)
After M2 and M1 pinhole optimizing (saturated and not)

Manar Amer wrote:

SBox alignment, using CW laser Koheras power 1 mW

Finished M1 and M2 alignment using the diffraction patterns seen on the beam profiler, the beam fit is not very good ?? (image taken)
Positions of Ma1 and Ma2 motors are registered (image taken)
Placed Fixed 2 irises at M1 window and M2 window (Image taken while both are closed)
Distance between the collimator and beam profiler ~ 2 m
Distance between collimator and M1 diaphragm ~ 1 m
Distance between collimator and M2 diaphragm ~ 1.6 m

Manar Amer wrote:

Starting with the alignment of the KBox using CW Koheras.

The size of the CW output from the collimator at 1 meter from is ~ 2.4 mm, to be adjusted with lenses to match the cavity !!! (attached image)

For the 2 alignment mirrors, I am only able to control 3 axes for now (motor issue for the fourth to be fixed !!) , Horizontal and vertical for Ma1 and Horizontal for Ma2(closes to injection window).

Started with only irises placed on both the M1 and M2. Placed a beam profiler at the window behind M2 to observe an output beam.

Motors position for the 3 axes and beam shape and position after M2 attached.

Mon May 9 19:27:35 2022

PowerPoint shows the detailed images of all the mirrors before and after cleaning.

Images of SBox mirrors and M1 from Gamma factory attached only for the front after cleaning

the lines showing are on the back of the mirrors, they come from the spinning mount the mirrors are fixed on in the spin-coater.

Naming code :

M#BB - M# mirror Back Before cleaning

M#BA - M# mirror Back After cleaning

M#FB - M# mirror Front Before cleaning

M#FA - M# mirror Front After cleaning

G : Gamma factory

Manar Amer wrote:

Images of the SBox mirrors cleaned at the same time when the cavity was aligned.

Directly from the spincoater to the SBox directly.

PowerPoint attached shows details

Manar Amer wrote:

Used the spincoater and pure water to clean dielectric mirrors which will be installed inside the SBox for directing the reflection line.

The method : place pure alchole on mirror - wipe it using white sterile tissue (in one direction) - clean with pure water in spincoater suing cotton swap .

After multible rounds, the result in the images was obtained. there is still a significant amount of dust particles (not all could be dust!!).

Not sure if the reason is the cleaning method ?? will invistegate it more !!!

Manar Amer wrote:

In preparation for cleaning the mirrors.

The spincoater has been moved with its bump into the sas of the SBox.

The pure water used will be provided by Alice, as the previous source in the workshop is not available.

Wed May 11 09:19:48 2022

Yesterday, to find the source of why the mode is deformed, I tried to rotate the mirrors to see if there is a change.

I started with M2 and rotated it by ~ 90 degrees, there is a change in the shape of the beam.(image attached)

Will see if changing M2 to the spare M2 from SBox can fix the issue.

At the end of the day, alignment was lost.

will be redone today while changing M2 mirror.

Manar Amer wrote:

Today; replaced the M1 SBox mirror with M1 from gamma factory , following the previous alignment.

Removed all mirrors and cleaned them one by one.

Started with no M1, placed M2 did its alignment through M3 pinhole, then placed M3 aligned it through M4 pinhole, then placed M4 aligned it through M1 pinhole.

Placed M1 Gamma factory at the end

Note: mirror is new was not used before, took image on microscope there was no dust in the center, but there was little on the edges (cleaned it using spin-coater)

beating of fundamental mode observed (at M2 transmission) immediately with very higher order modes, slight adjustment on M4 suppressed them.

The beam is not circular and still has some deformation, M1 was changed, so it could be a damaged point at one of the other mirrors (to be investigated tomorrow)!!

No significant damage seen on the other mirrors.

Manar Amer wrote:

Last week In FP cavity we had all SBox mirrors including the damaged M1 mirror.

The beating was observed with just a slight adjustment on M4 alignment.

In addition, it was also observed while driving the piezo of the CW laser.

In the attached image of the beam at transmission point at M2 mirror, the shape of the beam is deformed.

one of the factors could be related to the damaged spot on M1 mirror. The deformation position can also be seen in the higher order modes.

after changing the injection mirror to Gamma factory M1, this deformation should disappear.

Manar Amer wrote:

Finished the alignment of the SBox with M1 of SBox placed, to be changed to gamma factory mirror later

Observed what seems to be transmission through M2 mirror, to be confirmed. image attached shows it

a PowerPoint attached showing the details of today's work.

Manar Amer wrote:

Adjust the placement of the Irises (done at the start of the day, adjusted at the end when M1 mirror was placed)
Improvement on the Ma1 and Ma2 (The Alignment Mirrors)
- Improves the alignment a bit. There is an observation where there is no symmetry in the image, concluded to be because of the pinholes that are usually used for the alignment the circle cut is not symmetric (took images on phone of pinholes)
- This explains why, for the pinhole used on M1, we see a little more symmetry than the pinhole used on M2.
- Placed M1 mirror from Sbox (with damage spot in the middle), after cleaning it using the spincoater, only used to adjust the injection into the mirror where it will give Horizontal displacement due to the thickness of the mirror.
- Last position of the motors attached
Installed the 2 dielectric mirrors for the reflection line
Did a rough alignment for the reflection line to have it exit through the reflection window.

Note about mirrors : They were cleaned a year a go and placed in the boxes. When opened the box and seen under microscope they were very dirty with dust particle

Specially from the back, I believe the boxes have dust in them (to be verified under the UV light / Microscope !!!!!!!! )

Manar Amer wrote:

Remember to update the position of the reference Irises tomorrow !!!!

Manar Amer wrote:

After pointers and Advice from Aurélien,

improvement of the beam alignment through M1 and M2 irises was done.

To improve the image on the beam profiler, I cleaned the alignment mirrors and the windows using pure ethanol and optical lens cleaning tissue,

a significant improvement after cleaning the inside of M2 Window. Images have less dust diffraction rings.

Attached new images of the beam:

New Ma1 and Ma2 motor position
After M1 pinhole optimized (saturated)
After M2 and M1 pinhole optimizing (saturated and not)

Manar Amer wrote:

SBox alignment, using CW laser Koheras power 1 mW

Finished M1 and M2 alignment using the diffraction patterns seen on the beam profiler, the beam fit is not very good ?? (image taken)
Positions of Ma1 and Ma2 motors are registered (image taken)
Placed Fixed 2 irises at M1 window and M2 window (Image taken while both are closed)
Distance between the collimator and beam profiler ~ 2 m
Distance between collimator and M1 diaphragm ~ 1 m
Distance between collimator and M2 diaphragm ~ 1.6 m

Manar Amer wrote:

Starting with the alignment of the KBox using CW Koheras.

The size of the CW output from the collimator at 1 meter from is ~ 2.4 mm, to be adjusted with lenses to match the cavity !!! (attached image)

For the 2 alignment mirrors, I am only able to control 3 axes for now (motor issue for the fourth to be fixed !!) , Horizontal and vertical for Ma1 and Horizontal for Ma2(closes to injection window).

Started with only irises placed on both the M1 and M2. Placed a beam profiler at the window behind M2 to observe an output beam.

Motors position for the 3 axes and beam shape and position after M2 attached.

Wed May 11 20:51:28 2022

Following the observation that when rotating M2 plan mirror of SBox the deformation position of the mode changes.

M2 was replaced with M2 spare of SBox

images of the mirror front side attached before and after cleaning, no spots at the center, but there seems to be 2 spots far from the center of the mirror.

After comparing with old images of M2 SBox spare, they do not appear to be damages, but dust !! (old image attached, taken on 10/12/2020, was never opened after)

Manar Amer wrote:

PowerPoint shows the detailed images of all the mirrors before and after cleaning.

Images of SBox mirrors and M1 from Gamma factory attached only for the front after cleaning

the lines showing are on the back of the mirrors, they come from the spinning mount the mirrors are fixed on in the spin-coater.

Naming code :

M#BB - M# mirror Back Before cleaning

M#BA - M# mirror Back After cleaning

M#FB - M# mirror Front Before cleaning

M#FA - M# mirror Front After cleaning

G : Gamma factory

Manar Amer wrote:

Images of the SBox mirrors cleaned at the same time when the cavity was aligned.

Directly from the spincoater to the SBox directly.

PowerPoint attached shows details

Manar Amer wrote:

Used the spincoater and pure water to clean dielectric mirrors which will be installed inside the SBox for directing the reflection line.

The method : place pure alchole on mirror - wipe it using white sterile tissue (in one direction) - clean with pure water in spincoater suing cotton swap .

After multible rounds, the result in the images was obtained. there is still a significant amount of dust particles (not all could be dust!!).

Not sure if the reason is the cleaning method ?? will invistegate it more !!!

Manar Amer wrote:

In preparation for cleaning the mirrors.

The spincoater has been moved with its bump into the sas of the SBox.

The pure water used will be provided by Alice, as the previous source in the workshop is not available.

Wed May 11 21:10:27 2022

M2 Sbox changed to spare. Alignment of M2 was redone.

With the help of Ronic , We observe fundamental mode of the cavity with higher order modes. A frequency scan on the piezo was done to find the beating frequency , the shape is elliptical with no clear deformation.

The beam seems to be hitting something, which causes a reflection seen on the beam profiler.

We started a slow scan to improvement of the outside alignment.

At the end of the day, I can only get the TM01 and TM10 modes,

alignment to be continued tomorrow + the scan offset

Note: observation on TM01 and TM10 modes, we clearly see that the beam position is different from the mode center position !!

Manar Amer wrote:

Yesterday, to find the source of why the mode is deformed, I tried to rotate the mirrors to see if there is a change.

I started with M2 and rotated it by ~ 90 degrees, there is a change in the shape of the beam.(image attached)

Will see if changing M2 to the spare M2 from SBox can fix the issue.

At the end of the day, alignment was lost.

will be redone today while changing M2 mirror.

Manar Amer wrote:

Today; replaced the M1 SBox mirror with M1 from gamma factory , following the previous alignment.

Removed all mirrors and cleaned them one by one.

Started with no M1, placed M2 did its alignment through M3 pinhole, then placed M3 aligned it through M4 pinhole, then placed M4 aligned it through M1 pinhole.

Placed M1 Gamma factory at the end

Note: mirror is new was not used before, took image on microscope there was no dust in the center, but there was little on the edges (cleaned it using spin-coater)

beating of fundamental mode observed (at M2 transmission) immediately with very higher order modes, slight adjustment on M4 suppressed them.

The beam is not circular and still has some deformation, M1 was changed, so it could be a damaged point at one of the other mirrors (to be investigated tomorrow)!!

No significant damage seen on the other mirrors.

Manar Amer wrote:

Last week In FP cavity we had all SBox mirrors including the damaged M1 mirror.

The beating was observed with just a slight adjustment on M4 alignment.

In addition, it was also observed while driving the piezo of the CW laser.

In the attached image of the beam at transmission point at M2 mirror, the shape of the beam is deformed.

one of the factors could be related to the damaged spot on M1 mirror. The deformation position can also be seen in the higher order modes.

after changing the injection mirror to Gamma factory M1, this deformation should disappear.

Manar Amer wrote:

Finished the alignment of the SBox with M1 of SBox placed, to be changed to gamma factory mirror later

Observed what seems to be transmission through M2 mirror, to be confirmed. image attached shows it

a PowerPoint attached showing the details of today's work.

Manar Amer wrote:

Adjust the placement of the Irises (done at the start of the day, adjusted at the end when M1 mirror was placed)
Improvement on the Ma1 and Ma2 (The Alignment Mirrors)
- Improves the alignment a bit. There is an observation where there is no symmetry in the image, concluded to be because of the pinholes that are usually used for the alignment the circle cut is not symmetric (took images on phone of pinholes)
- This explains why, for the pinhole used on M1, we see a little more symmetry than the pinhole used on M2.
- Placed M1 mirror from Sbox (with damage spot in the middle), after cleaning it using the spincoater, only used to adjust the injection into the mirror where it will give Horizontal displacement due to the thickness of the mirror.
- Last position of the motors attached
Installed the 2 dielectric mirrors for the reflection line
Did a rough alignment for the reflection line to have it exit through the reflection window.

Note about mirrors : They were cleaned a year a go and placed in the boxes. When opened the box and seen under microscope they were very dirty with dust particle

Specially from the back, I believe the boxes have dust in them (to be verified under the UV light / Microscope !!!!!!!! )

Manar Amer wrote:

Remember to update the position of the reference Irises tomorrow !!!!

Manar Amer wrote:

After pointers and Advice from Aurélien,

improvement of the beam alignment through M1 and M2 irises was done.

To improve the image on the beam profiler, I cleaned the alignment mirrors and the windows using pure ethanol and optical lens cleaning tissue,

a significant improvement after cleaning the inside of M2 Window. Images have less dust diffraction rings.

Attached new images of the beam:

New Ma1 and Ma2 motor position
After M1 pinhole optimized (saturated)
After M2 and M1 pinhole optimizing (saturated and not)

Manar Amer wrote:

SBox alignment, using CW laser Koheras power 1 mW

Finished M1 and M2 alignment using the diffraction patterns seen on the beam profiler, the beam fit is not very good ?? (image taken)
Positions of Ma1 and Ma2 motors are registered (image taken)
Placed Fixed 2 irises at M1 window and M2 window (Image taken while both are closed)
Distance between the collimator and beam profiler ~ 2 m
Distance between collimator and M1 diaphragm ~ 1 m
Distance between collimator and M2 diaphragm ~ 1.6 m

Manar Amer wrote:

Starting with the alignment of the KBox using CW Koheras.

The size of the CW output from the collimator at 1 meter from is ~ 2.4 mm, to be adjusted with lenses to match the cavity !!! (attached image)

For the 2 alignment mirrors, I am only able to control 3 axes for now (motor issue for the fourth to be fixed !!) , Horizontal and vertical for Ma1 and Horizontal for Ma2(closes to injection window).

Started with only irises placed on both the M1 and M2. Placed a beam profiler at the window behind M2 to observe an output beam.

Motors position for the 3 axes and beam shape and position after M2 attached.

Tue May 24 21:51:01 2022

While repeating the alignment, the mirrors were cleaned using the spin-coater and placed again.

The current mirrors placed in the SBox are

M1 plane injection from Gamma factory

M2 plane from SBox spare

M3/M4 spherical from SBox main set

no visible damage seen on the mirrors with the microscope

no images of the surfaces were taken due to time constraint.

Manar Amer wrote:

Following the observation that when rotating M2 plan mirror of SBox the deformation position of the mode changes.

M2 was replaced with M2 spare of SBox

images of the mirror front side attached before and after cleaning, no spots at the center, but there seems to be 2 spots far from the center of the mirror.

After comparing with old images of M2 SBox spare, they do not appear to be damages, but dust !! (old image attached, taken on 10/12/2020, was never opened after)

Manar Amer wrote:

PowerPoint shows the detailed images of all the mirrors before and after cleaning.

Images of SBox mirrors and M1 from Gamma factory attached only for the front after cleaning

the lines showing are on the back of the mirrors, they come from the spinning mount the mirrors are fixed on in the spin-coater.

Naming code :

M#BB - M# mirror Back Before cleaning

M#BA - M# mirror Back After cleaning

M#FB - M# mirror Front Before cleaning

M#FA - M# mirror Front After cleaning

G : Gamma factory

Manar Amer wrote:

Images of the SBox mirrors cleaned at the same time when the cavity was aligned.

Directly from the spincoater to the SBox directly.

PowerPoint attached shows details

Manar Amer wrote:

Used the spincoater and pure water to clean dielectric mirrors which will be installed inside the SBox for directing the reflection line.

The method : place pure alchole on mirror - wipe it using white sterile tissue (in one direction) - clean with pure water in spincoater suing cotton swap .

After multible rounds, the result in the images was obtained. there is still a significant amount of dust particles (not all could be dust!!).

Not sure if the reason is the cleaning method ?? will invistegate it more !!!

Manar Amer wrote:

In preparation for cleaning the mirrors.

The spincoater has been moved with its bump into the sas of the SBox.

The pure water used will be provided by Alice, as the previous source in the workshop is not available.

Tue May 24 22:05:48 2022

The external and internal alignment was redone.

External Alignment : the collimator position moved so in order to have a good start I placed 2 metallic mirrors and did a rough retrace of it's line through the cavity box.

It helped as I did not have to do a lot of adjustment on Ma1 and Ma2 position (new position attached)

Internal Alignment: I replaced the 2 pinholes inside the cavity box with another set where the holes are more symmetric, it shows in the alignment.

Images attached of the beam diffraction pattern after each mirror pinhole.

The injection mirror was placed at the end of the alignment.

Alignment Done !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Manar Amer wrote:

M2 Sbox changed to spare. Alignment of M2 was redone.

The beam seems to be hitting something, which causes a reflection seen on the beam profiler.

We started a slow scan to improvement of the outside alignment.

At the end of the day, I can only get the TM01 and TM10 modes,

alignment to be continued tomorrow + the scan offset

Note: observation on TM01 and TM10 modes, we clearly see that the beam position is different from the mode center position !!

Manar Amer wrote:

Yesterday, to find the source of why the mode is deformed, I tried to rotate the mirrors to see if there is a change.

I started with M2 and rotated it by ~ 90 degrees, there is a change in the shape of the beam.(image attached)

Will see if changing M2 to the spare M2 from SBox can fix the issue.

At the end of the day, alignment was lost.

will be redone today while changing M2 mirror.

Manar Amer wrote:

Today; replaced the M1 SBox mirror with M1 from gamma factory , following the previous alignment.

Removed all mirrors and cleaned them one by one.

Started with no M1, placed M2 did its alignment through M3 pinhole, then placed M3 aligned it through M4 pinhole, then placed M4 aligned it through M1 pinhole.

Placed M1 Gamma factory at the end

Note: mirror is new was not used before, took image on microscope there was no dust in the center, but there was little on the edges (cleaned it using spin-coater)

beating of fundamental mode observed (at M2 transmission) immediately with very higher order modes, slight adjustment on M4 suppressed them.

The beam is not circular and still has some deformation, M1 was changed, so it could be a damaged point at one of the other mirrors (to be investigated tomorrow)!!

No significant damage seen on the other mirrors.

Manar Amer wrote:

Last week In FP cavity we had all SBox mirrors including the damaged M1 mirror.

The beating was observed with just a slight adjustment on M4 alignment.

In addition, it was also observed while driving the piezo of the CW laser.

In the attached image of the beam at transmission point at M2 mirror, the shape of the beam is deformed.

one of the factors could be related to the damaged spot on M1 mirror. The deformation position can also be seen in the higher order modes.

after changing the injection mirror to Gamma factory M1, this deformation should disappear.

Manar Amer wrote:

Finished the alignment of the SBox with M1 of SBox placed, to be changed to gamma factory mirror later

Observed what seems to be transmission through M2 mirror, to be confirmed. image attached shows it

a PowerPoint attached showing the details of today's work.

Manar Amer wrote:

Adjust the placement of the Irises (done at the start of the day, adjusted at the end when M1 mirror was placed)
Improvement on the Ma1 and Ma2 (The Alignment Mirrors)
- Improves the alignment a bit. There is an observation where there is no symmetry in the image, concluded to be because of the pinholes that are usually used for the alignment the circle cut is not symmetric (took images on phone of pinholes)
- This explains why, for the pinhole used on M1, we see a little more symmetry than the pinhole used on M2.
- Placed M1 mirror from Sbox (with damage spot in the middle), after cleaning it using the spincoater, only used to adjust the injection into the mirror where it will give Horizontal displacement due to the thickness of the mirror.
- Last position of the motors attached
Installed the 2 dielectric mirrors for the reflection line
Did a rough alignment for the reflection line to have it exit through the reflection window.

Note about mirrors : They were cleaned a year a go and placed in the boxes. When opened the box and seen under microscope they were very dirty with dust particle

Specially from the back, I believe the boxes have dust in them (to be verified under the UV light / Microscope !!!!!!!! )

Manar Amer wrote:

Remember to update the position of the reference Irises tomorrow !!!!

Manar Amer wrote:

After pointers and Advice from Aurélien,

improvement of the beam alignment through M1 and M2 irises was done.

To improve the image on the beam profiler, I cleaned the alignment mirrors and the windows using pure ethanol and optical lens cleaning tissue,

a significant improvement after cleaning the inside of M2 Window. Images have less dust diffraction rings.

Attached new images of the beam:

New Ma1 and Ma2 motor position
After M1 pinhole optimized (saturated)
After M2 and M1 pinhole optimizing (saturated and not)

Manar Amer wrote:

SBox alignment, using CW laser Koheras power 1 mW

Finished M1 and M2 alignment using the diffraction patterns seen on the beam profiler, the beam fit is not very good ?? (image taken)
Positions of Ma1 and Ma2 motors are registered (image taken)
Placed Fixed 2 irises at M1 window and M2 window (Image taken while both are closed)
Distance between the collimator and beam profiler ~ 2 m
Distance between collimator and M1 diaphragm ~ 1 m
Distance between collimator and M2 diaphragm ~ 1.6 m

Manar Amer wrote:

Starting with the alignment of the KBox using CW Koheras.

The size of the CW output from the collimator at 1 meter from is ~ 2.4 mm, to be adjusted with lenses to match the cavity !!! (attached image)

For the 2 alignment mirrors, I am only able to control 3 axes for now (motor issue for the fourth to be fixed !!) , Horizontal and vertical for Ma1 and Horizontal for Ma2(closes to injection window).

Started with only irises placed on both the M1 and M2. Placed a beam profiler at the window behind M2 to observe an output beam.

Motors position for the 3 axes and beam shape and position after M2 attached.

Tue May 24 22:11:40 2022

Fundamental Mode TEM00

The current setup for the SBox has a beam viewer and 2 photodiodes placed at reflection and transmission.

The CW laser piezoelectric crystal was driven using the lase lock system to observe the 00 mode.

Mode Observed and has no reflection (from what was previously seen)

higher order modes are resonating with 00 mode , example 11 mode (shown in image attached)

the coupling is yet to be seen and measured.

Wed May 25 17:34:29 2022

Fundamental Mode TEM00

Adding images from the transmission after the spherical mirrors M3 and M4 window for a resonating mode inside the cavity.

There appears to be some misalignment from the center of the mirror ???

Manar Amer wrote:

The current setup for the SBox has a beam viewer and 2 photodiodes placed at reflection and transmission.

The CW laser piezoelectric crystal was driven using the lase lock system to observe the 00 mode.

Mode Observed and has no reflection (from what was previously seen)

higher order modes are resonating with 00 mode , example 11 mode (shown in image attached)

the coupling is yet to be seen and measured.

Wed Jun 8 10:47:45 2022

Closing Series for Alignment.

Beating observed, beam is in the locking stages

Manar Amer wrote:

The external and internal alignment was redone.

External Alignment : the collimator position moved so in order to have a good start I placed 2 metallic mirrors and did a rough retrace of it's line through the cavity box.

It helped as I did not have to do a lot of adjustment on Ma1 and Ma2 position (new position attached)

Internal Alignment: I replaced the 2 pinholes inside the cavity box with another set where the holes are more symmetric, it shows in the alignment.

Images attached of the beam diffraction pattern after each mirror pinhole.

The injection mirror was placed at the end of the alignment.

Alignment Done !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Manar Amer wrote:

M2 Sbox changed to spare. Alignment of M2 was redone.

The beam seems to be hitting something, which causes a reflection seen on the beam profiler.

We started a slow scan to improvement of the outside alignment.

At the end of the day, I can only get the TM01 and TM10 modes,

alignment to be continued tomorrow + the scan offset

Note: observation on TM01 and TM10 modes, we clearly see that the beam position is different from the mode center position !!

Manar Amer wrote:

Yesterday, to find the source of why the mode is deformed, I tried to rotate the mirrors to see if there is a change.

I started with M2 and rotated it by ~ 90 degrees, there is a change in the shape of the beam.(image attached)

Will see if changing M2 to the spare M2 from SBox can fix the issue.

At the end of the day, alignment was lost.

will be redone today while changing M2 mirror.

Manar Amer wrote:

Today; replaced the M1 SBox mirror with M1 from gamma factory , following the previous alignment.

Removed all mirrors and cleaned them one by one.

Started with no M1, placed M2 did its alignment through M3 pinhole, then placed M3 aligned it through M4 pinhole, then placed M4 aligned it through M1 pinhole.

Placed M1 Gamma factory at the end

Note: mirror is new was not used before, took image on microscope there was no dust in the center, but there was little on the edges (cleaned it using spin-coater)

beating of fundamental mode observed (at M2 transmission) immediately with very higher order modes, slight adjustment on M4 suppressed them.

The beam is not circular and still has some deformation, M1 was changed, so it could be a damaged point at one of the other mirrors (to be investigated tomorrow)!!

No significant damage seen on the other mirrors.

Manar Amer wrote:

Last week In FP cavity we had all SBox mirrors including the damaged M1 mirror.

The beating was observed with just a slight adjustment on M4 alignment.

In addition, it was also observed while driving the piezo of the CW laser.

In the attached image of the beam at transmission point at M2 mirror, the shape of the beam is deformed.

one of the factors could be related to the damaged spot on M1 mirror. The deformation position can also be seen in the higher order modes.

after changing the injection mirror to Gamma factory M1, this deformation should disappear.

Manar Amer wrote:

Finished the alignment of the SBox with M1 of SBox placed, to be changed to gamma factory mirror later

Observed what seems to be transmission through M2 mirror, to be confirmed. image attached shows it

a PowerPoint attached showing the details of today's work.

Manar Amer wrote:

Adjust the placement of the Irises (done at the start of the day, adjusted at the end when M1 mirror was placed)
Improvement on the Ma1 and Ma2 (The Alignment Mirrors)
- Improves the alignment a bit. There is an observation where there is no symmetry in the image, concluded to be because of the pinholes that are usually used for the alignment the circle cut is not symmetric (took images on phone of pinholes)
- This explains why, for the pinhole used on M1, we see a little more symmetry than the pinhole used on M2.
- Placed M1 mirror from Sbox (with damage spot in the middle), after cleaning it using the spincoater, only used to adjust the injection into the mirror where it will give Horizontal displacement due to the thickness of the mirror.
- Last position of the motors attached
Installed the 2 dielectric mirrors for the reflection line
Did a rough alignment for the reflection line to have it exit through the reflection window.

Note about mirrors : They were cleaned a year a go and placed in the boxes. When opened the box and seen under microscope they were very dirty with dust particle

Specially from the back, I believe the boxes have dust in them (to be verified under the UV light / Microscope !!!!!!!! )

Manar Amer wrote:

Remember to update the position of the reference Irises tomorrow !!!!

Manar Amer wrote:

After pointers and Advice from Aurélien,

improvement of the beam alignment through M1 and M2 irises was done.

To improve the image on the beam profiler, I cleaned the alignment mirrors and the windows using pure ethanol and optical lens cleaning tissue,

a significant improvement after cleaning the inside of M2 Window. Images have less dust diffraction rings.

Attached new images of the beam:

New Ma1 and Ma2 motor position
After M1 pinhole optimized (saturated)
After M2 and M1 pinhole optimizing (saturated and not)

Manar Amer wrote:

SBox alignment, using CW laser Koheras power 1 mW

Finished M1 and M2 alignment using the diffraction patterns seen on the beam profiler, the beam fit is not very good ?? (image taken)
Positions of Ma1 and Ma2 motors are registered (image taken)
Placed Fixed 2 irises at M1 window and M2 window (Image taken while both are closed)
Distance between the collimator and beam profiler ~ 2 m
Distance between collimator and M1 diaphragm ~ 1 m
Distance between collimator and M2 diaphragm ~ 1.6 m

Manar Amer wrote:

Starting with the alignment of the KBox using CW Koheras.

The size of the CW output from the collimator at 1 meter from is ~ 2.4 mm, to be adjusted with lenses to match the cavity !!! (attached image)

For the 2 alignment mirrors, I am only able to control 3 axes for now (motor issue for the fourth to be fixed !!) , Horizontal and vertical for Ma1 and Horizontal for Ma2(closes to injection window).

Started with only irises placed on both the M1 and M2. Placed a beam profiler at the window behind M2 to observe an output beam.

Motors position for the 3 axes and beam shape and position after M2 attached.

Wed Jun 8 10:58:15 2022

Fundamental Mode TEM00

Images of the Transmitted beam at M2 mirror at different days.

The first one was from last week, the second from yesterday.

There is misalignment (drift due to temperature) from the position where the beam was initially. ( reference taken between centers of mode and direct injected beam)

it is most clear in the vertical position.

Manar Amer wrote:

Adding images from the transmission after the spherical mirrors M3 and M4 window for a resonating mode inside the cavity.

There appears to be some misalignment from the center of the mirror ???

Manar Amer wrote:

The current setup for the SBox has a beam viewer and 2 photodiodes placed at reflection and transmission.

The CW laser piezoelectric crystal was driven using the lase lock system to observe the 00 mode.

Mode Observed and has no reflection (from what was previously seen)

higher order modes are resonating with 00 mode , example 11 mode (shown in image attached)

the coupling is yet to be seen and measured.

Wed Jun 8 11:10:17 2022

lasers and optics | detectors and electronics | software

Telescope - Spacial Matching

Cavity Lock

Start with the cavity lock images attached, taken from last week, at start we have a coupling ~ 5% and started improving on the alignment .

The image of 00 modes attached corresponds to the coupling seen on the oscilloscope.

We have a higher coupling with the 11 mode due to the size of the injected beam in comparison to mode

lenses were added to improve it.

Wed Jun 8 11:24:35 2022

Divergence of the CW beam out of the collimator measured after 1 meter to be

2 $\Theta$ x = 0.7425 mrad --> $\Theta$ x = 0.37125 mrad
2 $\Theta$ y = 0.7115 mrad --> $\Theta$ y = 0.3575 mrad

two lenses were placed to decrease the diameter of the injected beam

Wed Jun 8 11:31:47 2022

lasers and optics | detectors and electronics | software

Cavity Lock

Current setup at SBox for locking the cavity

After spacial matching, the coupling increased to ~ 15 - 20 %

The locking was done for the fundamental mode, tried to improve the coupling with the motors, but the lock is very unstable to be investigated. (Note: the cavity in under normal pressure)

Manar Amer wrote:

Start with the cavity lock images attached, taken from last week, at start we have a coupling ~ 5% and started improving on the alignment .

The image of 00 modes attached corresponds to the coupling seen on the oscilloscope.

We have a higher coupling with the 11 mode due to the size of the injected beam in comparison to mode

lenses were added to improve it.

Thu Jun 9 19:59:42 2022

lasers and optics | detectors and electronics | software

Cavity Lock

Cavity locked today under vacuum and no airflow, it is stable over a long time

the alignment was improved and an increase of the transmission by 20 % from its original value

unfortunately, data from the oscilloscope was saved, but it was not in the correct format (image) to show.

Attached ; the mode shape, the new motor positions.

Manar Amer wrote:

Current setup at SBox for locking the cavity

After spacial matching, the coupling increased to ~ 15 - 20 %

The locking was done for the fundamental mode, tried to improve the coupling with the motors, but the lock is very unstable to be investigated. (Note: the cavity in under normal pressure)

Manar Amer wrote:

Start with the cavity lock images attached, taken from last week, at start we have a coupling ~ 5% and started improving on the alignment .

The image of 00 modes attached corresponds to the coupling seen on the oscilloscope.

We have a higher coupling with the 11 mode due to the size of the injected beam in comparison to mode

lenses were added to improve it.

Tue Jun 21 23:52:28 2022

mechanics | lasers and optics | detectors and electronics

Menhir Pulsed Laser

The SBox Length (FSR), was changed to match the repetition rate of the Menhir pulsed laser Frep = 216.6625 MHz

It was changed by removing the 2 D-shaped mirrors placed between M1 and M2, distance between M1-M2 ~= 169 mm

it was still needed to be adjusted with M1 motor to reach the correct FSR.

The pulsed laser is placed on the able with injection into a fiber

The Finesse of the cavity has progressed from ~2500 to ~ 18 000

** Note: PowerPoint attached shows the progress over the last two weeks on the laser and

100

Mon Jun 27 08:52:46 2022

lasers and optics | vacuum