• When connecting the Ethernet cable from the hub to the computer, it must be connected to the correct one (shown in green arrow in photo), it is not the usual internet
• the Motor controllers are under the Cavity table.
• The last image shows the positions of each mirror (To be checked if they are actual readings)

The pressure for the mirror vacuum chambers needs to be ~ few 10^-9 mbar for the valves to be open to the electron ring (the rest of the vacuumed ThomX)

At 10h45 in the morning, the pressure on the mirror chambers is:

• on the left                  :  1.9*10^-9 mbar
• on the right (sortie X)  :  1.6*10^-8 mbar

Reminding: the opening of the valves is the responsibility of the vacuum group only.

At 15h30 in the afternoon, the pressure on the mirror chambers is:

• on the left                    :  2.0*10^-9 mbar
• on the right (sortie X)  :  1.4*10^-8 mbar

the pressure decreased by 0.2 in ~ 5 hours for right , but increased by 0.1 for left

not an accurate reading for the change over time

will need to get the pressure vs time graph from the control room. 

At 10h in the morning, the pressure on the mirror chambers is:

• on the left                    :  1.9*10^-9 mbar
• on the right (sortie X)  :  1.0*10^-8 mbar

Bruno mentions that the pressure on the left is descending too slow,  a leakage check to be done on Tomorrow by the vacuum branch.

At 9h30 in the morning, the pressure on the mirror chambers is:

• on the left                    :  1.6*10^-9 mbar
• on the right (sortie X)  :  6.5*10^-9 mbar

it appears to have decreased significantly compared to the previous deccend !!!!!!

Leakage test done in the afternoon.

The method :

• an atomic mass spectrometer is connected to the mirror chamber and a measurement is taken to see all the atoms and molecules in the chamber
• after a Helium gas is spread around the outside of the chamber
• there is a leak if there is a spike at Helium (4 amu)

Attached is a picture of the spectrometer plot.

Conclusion: No leak in the cavity and the pressure is expected to decrease in the coming days

The pressure now is:

• on the left                    :  1.6*10^-9 mbar
• on the right (sortie X)  :  1.4*10^-8 mbar

**Note: there is an increase in the pressure after doing the measurement, which is expected from the spectrometer bumping ions to do the measurement.

A plot showing the descend of the vacuum in the mirror chambers (data to plot it obtained yesterday evening)

The regions where there is a drastic decrease is when the ionic pump was turned on.

Today in the morning the pressure was

• on the left                    :  1.3*10^-9 mbar
• on the right (sortie X)  :  4.9*10^-9 mbar

in the evening the pressure was

• on the left                    :  1.4*10^-9 mbar
• on the right (sortie X)  :  4.7*10^-9 mbar

During the weekend 23-24th of October, the lab and ThomX suffered a power breakdown.
All the pumping systems had to restart.

as a consequence, the pressure on Monday 25th morning was 4.3e-9 and 4.6e-9 mbar in the left and right vessels.

this morning, the Tuesday 26th, the pressure is 1.4e-9 and 3e-9 mbar.
now, these pressures are compatible with the opening of the valves!

Pressure is 1.4e-9 and 2.6e-9 mbar this morning.

as the vacuum level was good enough, I asked Eric Mistretta to open the 2 valves of the FP cavity.

He said the vacuum group made several tests during the last days, opening and closing these valves!
I asked him to not open and close them as it could release some dust on the mirrors.

Eric opened the valves in "local mode", using directly the valves controller (see attached image).
He was unsure of what could happen if he switches to the "remote mode"... the valves could be commanded to close again.
so, for the moment, one stays in "local mode".

after opening the valves, the vacuum level started to decrease inside FP-cavity :
9.7e-10 mbar for the left vessel
1.7e-9 mbar for the right vessel

On Friday the 5th of November, ThomX suffered again from a power breakdown.

all the pumping systems had to be restarted.
this produced a vacuum level increase and the FP-cavity valves shut off for security reasons.

Today the vacuum level is good enough and the 2 FP-cavity valves have been reopened by Eric Mistretta.

In order to find the Alignment of the ThomX cavity, Yann built mounts that could be placed directly on the windows outside the cavity, where we can place an iris at the center.

The center of the iris on the mount corresponds to the center of the mirror.

4 were made, big one for the injection and 3 small ones for the other windows. 

The big one fits, but the small ones don't fit, as the heads of screws exceed the circle boundary.

A change to them will be done so that they will fit where they will be clipped from the side.

The new iris mounts fixed on the small cavity windows.

Need additional 2 irises.

The One Five laser and its controller have been moved from PLIC to ThomX Iglo.

In preparation to Install the Amplifier from Alphanov

this afternoon with Viktor, we redid all the power supplies connexions.

4x cables are now connected to the wall sockets.
- 1x extension cable for the mini-rack multi-sockets cable.
- 3x triple-sockets long cables (3.5kW each).

all other cables have been removed and replaced.

we brought the other half-rack next to the first one.

This afternoon, an electrical operation will be done in ThomX, impacting possibly the casemate power supplies.

Then we shut down all the equipment.

This afternoon with Yann:
- we changed the shutter base plate position to center the beam axis with the mirrors center => to be checked with the amplifier beam
- on the L-shaped arm, the axis along the cavity beam has been centered. it should be never moved !!! (it corresponds to the less accessible knob).
Yann confirmed the 2 other translation axis of the L-shaped arm follow the back plate position.
These 2 axis have been positioned to put the L-shape plate completely of the beam path.
- the panel of the housing which was shifted has been fixed. now, it is properly aligned.

- this morning with Aurélien, we filled the water tank of the chiller and we opened the water valves (last pipes on water arrival/departure panel).

there is no leakage on the external water circuit but there is a small one on one of the Swagelock adapters of the water circuit connected to the Alphanov Amplifier.
we will add some Teflon to remove the leakage.

- the chiller alarm can be connected to the interlock detection of the Alphanov amplifier (I2 connector).
we will have a closer look at the different connectors next time, as the Alphanov manual is not very clear on how to connect them together.