HOME SBOX THOMX MINICAV Utilities
THOMX orders THOMX installation THOMX commissioning THOMX control command
  Status of commissioning, report also here plots are reports.  Not logged in ELOG logo
 List  |  Find  |  Login  |  Help 
Entry   FP cavity alignment , posted by Manar Amer at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics 2021_12_02_M2_Transmission.jpg2021_12_02_M3_transmission_90deg.PNG
    Reply   FP cavity alignment , posted by Manar Amer at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics 
       Reply   FP cavity alignment , posted by Manar Amer at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics Interior_of_cavity_P1_S3_windowOpen.jpgInterior_of_cavity_P1_S3_windowOpen_irrisOnP1.jpgCavityAlignment_cavityOpen_S2_Output.jpgCavityAlignment_cavityOpen_S3_Output.jpeg
          Reply   FP cavity alignment , posted by Manar Amer at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics 
             Reply   FP cavity alignment , posted by Manar Amer at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics | detectors and electronics ThomX_FP_setup_01-02-2022.pngtek0002.png
                Reply   FP cavity alignment , posted by Manar Amer at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics | detectors and electronics 
                   Reply   FP cavity alignment , posted by Manar Amer at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics | detectors and electronics 
                      Reply   FP cavity alignment , posted by Manar Amer at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics | detectors and electronics tek0003.pngtek0006.pngtek0007.png
                         Reply   FP cavity alignment , posted by Manar Amer at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics | detectors and electronics 
                         Reply   FP cavity alignment , posted by Manar Amer at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics | detectors and electronics 
                            Reply   FP cavity alignment , posted by Manar Amer at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics | detectors and electronics 
Message ID: 118     Entry time: Wed Feb 2 11:41:01 2022     In reply to: 117     Reply to this: 119   120
 Author: Manar Amer 
 Status: Fixed 
 Type: report 
 Category: lasers and optics | detectors and electronics 
 Location: ThomX igloo 
 Title: FP cavity alignment  

Adding Oscilloscope images

  • delocked + locked intervals showing the 20% coupling
  • lock when the housing panels are closed + airflow on .
  • lock when the housing panels are closed + air flow at lowest setting

an additional factor to the PZT voltage sensitivity is the housing panels, we see a decrease in the voltage when closing them.

Manar Amer wrote:

This morning with Manar, we installed the AOM+RF amplifier and the associated fast feedback loop.
Now the locking with the Koheras is good with a coupling of 20%.
Tomorrow is dedicated to the measurement of the Finesse.... we will have to add the 2nd EOM.

We observed a very stable lock if the airflow is OFF.
when it is ON, the lock is much less stable... maybe a problem of optimization of the feedback... we will see that tomorrow if we have time enough.

We also observed a quite important sensititvity of the PZT voltage when slightly pushing on the housing with the finger: we clearly see the compensation on the PZT voltage.
I didn't calibrate this voltage but it seems to be an important fraction of 1µm... I would say around 100nm
 

Manar Amer wrote:

This afternoon, I did some alignment of the injection mirrors with a fast scan on the LaseLock to get a regular transmission photodiode signal.
the coupling increased to 10-15%

I got a first lock of the cavity only with the PZT.
there is some ringing on the error signal and the locking is quite noisy, which means the cavity LW seems to be more narrow than the Koheras LW, which is a good sign.
tomorrow, I will add an AOM to improve the locking.

I did some alignment after locking.
it was difficult because of the outside noise (engines producing loud and low-frequency noises).
the coupling is now about 20% (position saved in the injection motors software).
I added a half waveplate which has to be optimized.

 

Manar Amer wrote:

Installed and inputs:

  • CW laser ; power = 101 mW
  • PDH ;
    • at output
      • Low pass filter 50 ohm  DC-1.9 MHz
    • at input
      • freq = 8.4 MHz , Ampl = 1.2 V  , phase = 160 /
      • voltage =   ~ 6 V
  • EOM ; freq = 8.4 MHz , Ampl = 100 mV , phase = 90
  • Photodiodes
    • reflection
    • transmission
  • beam profiler

Observed during this morning:

  • coupling :   below 10% .... approximately ~ 8%
  • Oscilloscope : 
    • yellow : transmission
    • purple : reflection
    • Blue : error signal
    • green : scan signal

Note : We observe a lot of higher order modes, and they are not occurring regularly.   

A schematic of the current setup is attached.

An image from the oscilloscope show a low coupling but clean error signal.

Manar Amer wrote:

Yesterday, we did the alignment again using Iris and beam profilers to obtain a more precise result.
at the end of the alignment procedure, we successfully obtained the beating modes.

the geometrical alignment seems good (weak odd modes) but we could need to put a telescope on the Koheras line as the beam size seems quite different from the mode size (quite strong even modes).

without any improvement of the alignment using photodiodes, one obtains about 15-20% of coupling.

we put several Iris on the table:
- 2 Iris before the 2 alignment mirrors to fix the axis of the laser on these mirrors
- 1 Iris just before the cavity (we will add an additional one today) to fix the cavity axis
- 1 Iris in reflection of the cavity to fix the M1 orientation

Manar Amer wrote:

***** Continuation of the alignment ---- FP Cavity Open --- ****

The cavity was put under outer pressure and was opened for the alignment

The alignment was done using CW koheras infrared laser and  the inside mirrors irises

we observed the beam output centered at S2, S3 and P4

transmission from S4 to P1 was aligned at the center of P1 iris and an outside reference was fixed, then P1 mirror was placed, and we aligned the reflection with the transmission.

....... After the interior alignment, the cavity windows were closed ....

A beam profiler was placed at P4 transmission -----> nothing observed even with a piezo drive on the CW infrared  laser

observed a beam output at S2 and S3, but the fundamental mode is not seen, or even a higher order mode (which we can't explain, as the beam is centered on the mirrors)

images show the output at S2 and S3

 

Manar Amer wrote:

The alignment is on hold until next week 17th - 18th  Jan

an Alignment attempt will be done when the ring part close to the FP cavity is opened.

Manar Amer wrote:

Note the direction of injection is     M1 - M2 - M3 - M4

                                                       P1 - S2 - S3 - P4

The injected beam is aligned at the center of the irises placed at the windows mounts of mirror M1 (Injection) and M2(spherical)

At Transmission of M2 :  in addition to centered beam, we observe diffraction which interferes in observing the beating at M2 output

(could be diffracted beam from the metal pipes inside or from the D-shaped mirror installed inside)

At Transmission of M3 : we observe a beam output could be part of TM00 mode (the shape is distorted !!)

suspicious reasons :

  •  when we have a frequency sweep on the CW(Koheras) piezo; we observe it beating (when increasing the drive it is increasing in intensity)
  • when we adjust the alignment mirrors; the beam doesn't change position and only its intensity changes

  continuation with the alignment and try to eliminate the diffraction and find the shape of the beam.

A manual change in the D-shaped mirror position to remove any possible effects from it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attachment 1: tek0003.png  45 kB  | Show | Hide all | Show all
Attachment 2: tek0006.png  63 kB  | Hide | Hide all | Show all
tek0006.png
Attachment 3: tek0007.png  43 kB  | Show | Hide all | Show all
ELOG V3.1.4-395e101