today with Alice, we planned to do a long run with ~80kW in the FPC to check if the lock problems are coming from the interaction with the machine or not.
the goal is to check this assumption on a full day comparable with a day of X-ray production.

we started the amplifier at 10am.

during a move of MaY (injection mirrors of the FPC), we observed a sudden total loss of resonances...
the reason was an abnormal displacement of the motor despite the fact the measured position was reasonable.
we already observed an issue like that....
to fix the problem, one just had to move back MaY.

the cavity started to be locked at 11:15am

the RF frequency has been changed to 500.09595MHz equivalent to 33.33973MHz
but we don't have a beating signal @ 500MHz => one will ask to Vincent to fix the issue.

laser motor CH0 : 1.503453 mm
laser moror CH2 : - 50µm

~ 83kW at 12:30pm

at the begining of the day, we started to get ~81kW in the FPC for 33% amplifier ratio and after ~1h, we got 84kW after CEP and alignment tuning.
at the end of the day, we got 89kW without walking alignment.

we tried to improve a bit the robustness of the FPC and RF locks:
see the capture for the new locking parameters.

the RF frequency changed from 500.1003MHz to 500.0913MHz => it reduced by 9kHz @ 500MHz which is equivalent to 600Hz @ 33MHz (we measured 500Hz @ 33MHz). the electron orbit length increased, so we have to increase the cavities length => increase motor values by ~ 68µm.

for the laser cavity : 1.496 560 mm => 1.564 560 mm

the initial values for the motor of the FP cavity are : MOT.03=-130 000 steps and MOT.06=-900 000 steps.
68µm is roughly 11 000 steps (6nm/step) => MOT.03=-130 000 steps and MOT.06=-889 000 steps.

optimum CEP position : -210.8µm => -192µm

I got 80kW in the FP cavity after CEP and walking alignment
then, 82kW after waiting 3h.
then, 84kW after waiting 5h.

this afternoon, we put back the 1/4 and 1/2 waveplates and after a long alignment/angle tuning/CEP optimization process, we hardly got 80-81kW in the cavity for 33% amplifier ratio. the transmission photodiode is then ~ 7.5 divisions (500mV/division) on the scope.

BUT during the 1/2 and 1/4 waveplate angle tuning process, we clearly saw:
- a reflection signal level which is very sensitive to the input polarization
- a coupling which can be almost zero with ~70kW inside the cavity
- the more important: ~9.5 divisions (500mV/division) on the scope with only 70-75kW in the powermeter
        => which device should we believe ?

the problem is all these photodiodes (reflection, error signal, transmission) and powermeter are aligned with mirrors which seem to be sensitive to the polarization state of the beam... and for the "output" beam side of the cavity, we cannot remove the mirrors because of the mechanics of the cavity which prevent a direct view of the ports. for the "input" beam side of the cavity, the output port is used for the cavity beam size measurement with a Basler camera.

we have to think to how to solve this issue !

I put back and aligned the 1/2 waveplate only and I get 71kW max after its optimization and optimizing the CEP and alignment (without walking procedure).
this waveplate change a lot the reflected power seen on the CH2 of the scope.

to be continued this afternoon...

we did a long term run (25 mn) with the powermeter located at the FPC position at 33% amplifier ratio.

the initial power was 18W .
then, it goes to 18.5W in 10 minutes, then 5 minutes later, it goes to 18.3W and stay stable until  the end the run.

this morning, with Daniele, we checked the amplifier power, right after the CVBG (the power meter has to be placed on a metal plate above the large table hole), and just at the input of the FP cavity, after the 1/4 and 1/2 waveplates (the power meter has to be placed on flat beam dump+ Thorlabs beam dump + V metallic mount to be at the right height).

we compared with the power measured the 9th of september : https://elog.lal.in2p3.fr/FPC/THOMX+commissioning/356

the 3 collumns are the measurement close to the CVBG on 9th of september / same position today / just befor the FPC today

amplifier ratio (%)                 power after compressor (W)                 (new) power @ CVBG   (new) power @ FPC      ratio FPC/CVBG power (%)
10                                               0.91                                                  0.93                                    0.83                                       89.2
20                                               8.6                                                    8.6                                      8.0                                         93.0
30                                              16.7                                                  16.9                                    15.8                                        93.5
40                                              25.5                                                  25.6                                    24.0                                        93.7
50                                              34.5                                                  34.6                                    32.5                                        93.9
60                                              42.5                                                  42.5                                    39.5                                        92.9
70                                              50.0                                                  50.0                                    45.0                                        90.0

we observed with the viewer the beam on the powermeter.
at 70% of amplifier ratio, the beam size is as big as the powermeter detector.
then, the 93% to 90% transport efficiency drop could come from this "too small" powermeter detector.

we observed also at this power ratio (70%) that the 1/4 and 1/2 waveplates were not perfectly centered and we burn a part of the platic mount at this power.

the RF frequency is now 500.1003MHz which is equivalent (if divided by 15) to 33.34002MHz.

the frequency has to be changed by ~2kHz @33MHz <=> ~550µm /2 for one motor.

I changed the laser and the FP cavities frequency.

for the laser frequency, the smaract motor CH1 is at 1.500627m.

for the FPC frequency, the plane mirror motors are at MOT.03= - 123 130 steps and MOT.06

BE CARREFUL, when the offset frequency is large, as we measure it on a scope with a beat frequency, if the scope window is too large,
one gets some stromboscope effect and one measures a lower frequency depending on the number of points in the window.

we got ~81kW for 33% amplifier ratio

this morning, I did some walking procedure and CEP alignment to get ~80kW in the FPC with 33% amplifier ratio.

we have to check if this power drop comes from:

- a laser amplifier power drop
- or related to some cavity axis shift which could change the cavity gain due to L-shapes

this morning, I did some walking procedure and I got 82kW in the FPC with 33% amplifier ratio (after CEP optimization too).
but when I move the FP cavity motors to adjust the frequency, I cannot keep this power and it is reduced.
could it be we get a stronger correlation between axis than before in the mechanics has more rust than before ?

I'm able to keep the power quite easily with a stable phase related to the 33MHz RF generator,
so, we are ready to produce X-rays again.

we could do also a measurement of the amplifier power vs ratio, as maybe it reduced a bit which could explain why we have this small power drop compare to before.

Today, after setting the locking parameters, I got 80kW in the FPC for 33% amplifier ratio after CEP tuning (Smaract CH2 ~ -423.5µm) and alignment.

maybe the alignment has to be improved by some walking procedure.

For the modulation/demodulation generator for the PDH signal,
after a power shutdown, on can :
1) restart the generator to get the correct parameters:
CH1:3Vrms on 50 ohms @ 8.4MHz (demod)
CH2: 100mVrms on 50 ohms @ 8.4MHz (modulation on EOM)

2) do an "Align phase" on the generator

3) put 270° on CH2 (0° on CH1) to get the max Error signal
and use a "positive" sign on the Laselock : cf https://elog.lal.in2p3.fr/FPC/THOMX+commissioning/365

After the new Yvette flooding of the last week and the consecutive AC-shut down, I restarted this morning the laser with the same procedure (step of 1mm at 10mm/s with the Smaract motor on the rep rate channel (CH1)).

now, we have again 33.371MHz and 3.1mW input power as expected ! => OK

the last thing to do is to tune again the PDH demodulation frequency, as the generator has been shut off during the AC shut down.

This morning, I verified the reason why the seeder frequency was not displayed on the amplifier software screen:

one needs to start the amplifier (even at 0%) to see the seeder frequency !!!
now, we have 33.371MHz as expected ! => OK

the last thing to do is to tune again the PDH demodulation frequency, as the generator has been shut off during the AC shut down.
 

On Friday 11th of October, due to the Yvette flooding, all the AC power of ThomX have been shut down.
After the shutdown, I had to restart the Onefive oscillator but the laser modelock was lost.
I had to do a step of 1mm at 10mm/s with the Smaract motor on the rep rate channel (CH1)

After the step, the laser was mode-locking again, and I put it back in the original position at a much lower speed, ~10µm/s, to prevent a new modelock loss.
the power detected by the laser amplifier software is still above 3mW! => OK

Surprisingly, the laser amplifier software is not able to detect the oscillator frequency.
hopefully, the internal photodiode of the oscillator is sent to the CH4 of the R&S scope (192.168.229.21)
and we measured a correct 30ns of period, corresponding to 33MHz.

Because all the safety procedures are not fulfilled, the laser amplifier is not granted to start.
Maybe it is the Reason for the lack of measurement => to be verified later
 

This afternoon, we scanned the optical table vertically with the hexapod in asynchronous mode to find its optimum position, looking at the X-ray production.
then, we searched for the correct bucket and phase in the bucket thanks to the Kevin script on the 500MHz and the 33MHz phases.

we got relatively easily some stable X-rays.
on the gain "0" on the current amplifier of the X-rays photodiode, we got 15 000 pA (380k Xrays / pA => 5.7.10^9 Xrays).
but we saw, when the cathode charge was fluctuating, that we could be saturated above 20 000 pA !

the power in the cavity was ~84kW after CEP and alignment tuning.

the command to launch the X-rays measurement window is:
taurustrend -r 100 /XLI/OP/TMD.01/I1

This morning, I wanted to test quickly if the Smaract motors can be used in open loop instead of closed loop or in piezo scan.

the goal is to do very fine steps without to much vibrations (like with piezo scan mode) but with the full motor range (the piezo scan mode has a very limited range).

I can check what happens to the 33MHz beating frequency between the laser and the RF frequency without the laser amplifier or the lock of the FP-cavity.
1Hz of beating freqency variation is equivalent to 270nm of round-trip length, which is 135nm of motor displacement !

=> the full range of the piezo scan mode is difficult to estimate because the measurement sensitivity is not good enough but around 5Hz.

=> 1350nm in closed loop is equivalent to ~ 10Hz => 135nm is equivalent to 1Hz => ok

=> 1 step in open loop is equivalent to ~ 10Hz !!! => this is a way too coarse tuning !!!! => cannot be used unless one finds a way to set the motion differently in the settings parameters.
but usually, the settings parameters are used only to tune the speed, not the step size.

Yesterday Ronic and I worked on the high laser power measurements with the Vertical set-up of the Focus Tunable Lens. We went upto 38W@4 dpt at the begining and then also changed the focal power at 38W.

Observation:

1. We observed nice rings @38W 4dpt, maybe it hits some optics we have to check.

2. We also observed flactuations of power for two adjacent index of the beam profiler when we increase the laser power, which we need to understand.

3. We could see that the vertical deformation is not present for this set-up, we could remove the effect of gravity by this set-up.

Today with Daniele and Alice, we operated to cavity.
we obtained 84kW for 33% of amplifier ratio.
we had to tune the CEP @ -565µm and the FP-cavity alignment.

then we locked properly the FP-cavity on the ring RF frequency.
we quite easily relock with the correct phase when we are loosing the lock.

the ThomX machine was running during these 2 locks, so we are ready for doing X-rays again.

here are the (good) lock parameters used this morning.

for the RF/FPC lock, the 33MHz beating signal used to select the right bucket is 1Vpp
=> beating signal : V0 . sin(phi) with V0=0.5V.

to discrimate a 500MHz bucket, we need to get dV < V0 dphi.

dphi = 2pi / 15 = 420 mrad => dV < 0.2 V => dV < +/- 0.1V

we used dV = +/- 0.02V but perharps we can relax the constraint.

we also reduced the RF scanning speed at 0.1V/s to let the system find the right phase when the system is slowly drifting.