Cavity Lock - Alphanov Amplifier , posted by Manar Amer at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics | detectors and electronics | cabling | software 
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Today with Ronic,
starting with major events that happened (Water circulation + ThomX valves )
Early in the morning a company worked on the water network, it seemed it was not restarted properly so there was no water circulation |
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33MHz oscillator + Alphanov amplifier lock, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics
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After removing the 2 generators from the optical table, the lock is much more stable and now, it is possible to lock on the main resonance with a poor
CEP but with quite good stability.
the coupling is still very low ~ 5% for that CEP but if one improves it (CEP ->0), using the laser double-wedge motor, one clearly sees an improvement |
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Cavity Lock - Alphanov Amplifier , posted by Manar Amer at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics | detectors and electronics | cabling | software
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In the morning, we locked on the first resonance. With an increase on the amplifier power @ 20-25% and 30%, which reduced the noise
we manage to get a coupling when improving the CEP up to 55 - 60 % coupling : put there is still a drift on the CEP
The controller for the oscillator frep and CEP produces a lot of noise, even if it is disconnected. we need to switch it off to remove its effect |
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Cavity Lock - Alphanov Amplifier , posted by Manar Amer at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics | detectors and electronics | cabling | software
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The computer is possible to connect from the control room,
we are able to run remotely the amplifier, cavity motors, oscillator motors, lase lock (note: there is an issue with the keyboard, we are not
able to use it with remote access!!!!!!!!) |
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33MHz oscillator + Alphanov amplifier lock, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics
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this morning, I tested the laser+amplifier @ 30% lock on the FP cavity with and without Smaract motors.
I recorded the PDH error signal during a lock:
- blue : with Smaract motors controller powered ON but motors are stopped |
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33MHz oscillator + Alphanov amplifier lock, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics
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I checked with the Matlab code below the CEP detuning effect (2nm sech² spectrum... not exactly the same as in ThomX)
@ CEP = 0 => coupling = 100% and Gcav = 10.5k
if all the coupling loss comes from the CEP detuning effect : |
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33MHz oscillator + Alphanov amplifier lock, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics
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we checked yesterday morning the real input power @ 30% for the amp => it is 16W in agreement with the previously measured values
Ronic
Chiche wrote:
I checked with the Matlab code below the CEP detuning effect (2nm |
First X rays and FP-cavity mode and electron beam waists size @ IP, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics
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on friday 23/06 afternoon, after scanning the hexapod z-axis, we observed a cut of the power stored in the FP-cavity (with constant input power/coupling)
at both ends of the scan, due to the losses of the beam-pipe aperture.
we placed the hexapod exactly in the middle of this range ~ z=-1.68 mm (which is not the middle of the maximum range of the hexapod), we opened |
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Incoming laser beam power issue, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics
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today, we observed on the photodiode used in reflexion of the cavity, that its voltage level stops increasing after 50% of power for the laser amplifier
when the cavity is not locked (the FP-cavity is just a reflective mirror).
the photodiode itself is not saturated (low power sent after a wedge and an absorbing filter) and the reading is done on 50 ohms. |
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33MHz oscillator + Alphanov amplifier lock, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics
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Today, we locked the cavity with input power @ 30% for the amp => we got 40kW with only 30% of coupling (and a bad lock => we could have more power
inside cavity).
P@30% = 16W |
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ThomX ring injection kicker noise => USB communication issue with Alphanov amplifier, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about detectors and electronics
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several times already, when the electrons ring injection kicker is running @10Hz, we observed peaks at the same frequency on reflected and transmitted
photodiodes,
at the exact moment when the kicker is activated. we have in addition, USB communication issues with the Alphanov amplifier... the connection is |
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work with HV voltage on the Laselock, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics | detectors and electronics
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presently, the voltage on the laser PZT is 0-10V, but during the several runs we did, this voltage is too low to compensate low frequency fluctuations:
we need to change often the motors position implying a cavity lock loss.
we have to check if running the laser PZT with the HV output of the Laselock is possible without too much additionnal noise. |
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work with HV voltage on the Laselock, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics | detectors and electronics
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Yesterday, I checked the 2 output HV channels of the LaseLock : they work properly but the noise is bigger than the low voltage outputs
~ 1mV rms on 0-10V outputs
~ 8 mv rms on 0-100V output |
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Equipments shutdown, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics
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on the August 30rd and 31th, a global power shutdown was forseen for ThomX.
to prevent damage on equipments, I switched off all of them (and disconnected power cables from the wall plugs).
yesterday, after the week-end, all the equipments have been restarted and the cavity as been locked properly. |
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FP-cavity FSR shift, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics
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today, to match the ring frequency at 500.25MHz (15th laser harmonic), we did a frequency shift on the laser using the Smaract motors (not too fast,
~2µm/s, to prevent laser modelock loss)
and we "followed" this shift on the FP-cavity using the FP-cavity motors. |
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Fast feedback loop between laser and FP cavity, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics | detectors and electronics
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today, we tried to lock the FP cavity with the Smaract motors ON (with option -LV).
we know the Smaract controllers produce some noise and the lock is very bad or impossible when the controller in ON (whatever the displacement mode
is : closed or open loop, or piezo scan). |
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Smaract controller remplacement, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics
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previously, we were using a spare Smaract MCS controller to drive the Onefive linear stages (without -LV -low vibration- option and
using Ethernet),
during the repair of the initial MCS controller with -LV option. |
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Onefive laser modelock and Smaract CEP controller, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics
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today, during an attempt in improving the CEP with the Smaract controller CH2, we lost the laser modelock.
at this point, we decided to reference the Smaract CH2 for CEP :
now, 0 mm is roughly the middle of the motor range. |
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Fast feedback loop between laser and FP cavity, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about lasers and optics | detectors and electronics
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today, after the several unsuccessful attempt yesterday to get an improvement in the lock,
we decided to "rebuild" the error signal electronics block by block and step by step :
the scheme is basically : |
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Removing high order modes, posted by Ronic Chiche at ThomX igloo about mechanics | lasers and optics | detectors and electronics
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this morning we locked the laser and the FP-cavity with ~ 40kW => some HOM appeared "randomly" depending on the power.
we tried to play manually on the L-shape arm :
- first, we moved horizontally to put the L-shape in the beam axis |