Plan for Installation and Testing during Jan-Feb 2000

At NU:

• tickets, excess baggage coupons and permissions, and custom forms
• order and pack miscellaneous spare parts
  • Dave:
    • Huntington bakeable valve.
    • procure level sensors.
  • Giles:
    • procure flex-pivots.
    • procure fill-tube.
    • procure VCR/conflat adapters
    • fix or send to pole: spare adapter for pumped pot line
    • manual for signal generator
    • check for anything else I brought back in November
  • Jen:
    • procure spare preamp data-system batteries.
    • procure new power supplies for preamp heat.
    • procure D-cell batteries for bolometer bias.
    • retrieve shipping cases from Yerkes, as needed.
    • procure half-inch o.d. roller bearings as flex-pivot spares
    • procure/assemble battery-testing assy
    • long teflon cable for use with polarization calibrator
    • 8-12 Volt fixed power supply (current < 1 mA). Get two & a/c cords
  • Tom:
    • procure AD-590's (SPARO has no spares at Pole)
    • procure spare RF-shielded preamp connectors
• Tom analyze SPARO performance (optical efficiency, pointing, focus/beam-size) and finish testing all analysis software (mapping/polarim/photom). Help from Dave as needed.
• Jen work on documentation/inventory issues - help from Giles, Tom, Dave
  • maintain mirroring between Pole and U.S. Web pages
  • keep both Web sites up to date as new info develops
  • The following are less critical and could wait till mid-Feb:
    • cabling - repair damaged diagrams as time allows
    • correct miscellaneous errors (with Dave, Giles) as time allows
    • Web needs boot-up sequence for SPARO electronics/computers (Giles)
    • Dotson et al. paper on Web
    • inventory table: Dave's packing list to Web
• Jen study Roger's primer, Viper manual, NU/CMU Web pages, etc, in preparation for SPARO on-telescope tests.
• Dave and Tom need to begin process of preparing Giles to:
  • ...analyze polarimetry data (e.g. CSO Sgr B2 method)
  • ...analyze photometry data (e.g. focusing on faint point sources will require averaging multiple files)
  • ...make and analyze maps (of variable n-ints).
• Giles get on E-mail list for tau-meter
• We need software for precessing coordinates from 1950 to 2000. Or else we need to redo all maps on Web page for epoch 2000. Tom? Dave upon return?

Dave P. at Pole (approx. 1/15):

• Dave P. Work on winter cryogen logistics (plan winter He-4 fills into X-fer dewar; plan winter He-4 fills into SPARO; plan moving He-4 X-fer dewars into MAPO; teflon fill-tube seals from P. Sullivan) help as needed from Paul Sullivan, advice from Greg G.
• locate and test equipment that Dave C. will need to cool SPARO. Help from Dave C., Bob P., and Paul Sullivan.
• finish leftover jobs from the Fall (help from Giles)
• work on mount for Jen's calibrator (help from Jen).

Dave C. at Pole (approx. 1/22):

• Dave C. cool & lab-test dewar.
  • equipment needed:
    • 2 Cylinders UHP He gas
    • LN2
    • Orange Mechanical pump
    • 4 KF valves
    • Sufficient amounts of KF fittings, tubing and conflat 1.33 blankoffs w/gaskets
    • Capacitance manometer gauge and readouts
    • 2 gas regulators w/2 psi resolution
    • lock in amplifier
    • laboratory cycling breakout box
    • jfet heater(plexiglass- 9 volt array)
    • reservoir pumping fixture
    • blowout fixture
    • pumped pot flushing fixture
    • working turbo pump station - Paul Sullivan has working hi-vac gages
    • working leak checker
    • working hi-vac gauge
  • Visual Inspection - check mostly for obvious problems concentrating on
    • seals-look for loose bolts or seals which aren't snug
    • wiring/connectors: Are all pins ok?
    • are preamp biases on or off
    • what is state of He-3 valves - (green ones that connect He-3 system to external tanks)
  • Remove insulation from preamps.
  • Check and record mechanical gauges on He-3 systems
  • Check to make sure BOW is closed
  • Close both heat switches (they should be closed - you can check if they are closed by opening 5 turns and then closing 5 turns and seeing if you hit a stop
  • be sure to use two valves on pumped pot port (red-handled conflat and KF)
  • leak check SPARO if leak checker available and working
  • cool SPARO
  • cycle inside: noise & hand signals. use lockin.
  • heat JFETs
  • train Dave Pernic to keep SPARO cold if necessary
• get synch working on polarization calibrator, and test if it can drive SPARO macintosh
• test computers.
  • check data-system battery. Was it left connected to data-system?
  • measure temperature of data system box
  • Make a fake map; do fake photometry; do fake polarimetry (set flags in script: SPARO on, telescope off)
  • Analyse results for these fake data-sets. Save all work to computer and make notes in logbook
  • run cryocontroller program (concern was that cryocontroller BIOS may not be ok with Y2K). also input a test voltage to cryocontroller.
  • send E-mail to Giles describing any problems/concerns with the above
• miscellaneous small jobs:
  • locate long-bellows from 1998-99 season for use with new pumping scheme.
  • show VCR/conflat adapters to whoever might recognize a problem with these

Giles at Pole (approx. 1/26):

• Giles remove preamps:
  • do load curves if there is still He-3
  • check preamp bias - replace D-cells if necessary
  • turn off dead channel: in preamp (ask JW ahead of time how)
  • reinstall preamps
• Giles install new pumpline for SPARO.
  • need hole in wall first (DP)
  • put a valve in the pumproom at end of line so you can change pump without venting line
• Giles, Dave P., Mike V. carry out optics switchover. (check correct alignment with cardboard template.)
• Giles, Dale install SPARO onto telescope and begin basic instrument and software checks:
  • measure JFET noise on stripchart
  • test half-wave plate motion
  • cycle dewar - record all aspects of cryostat performance
  • measure detector/microphonics noise on stripchart
  • check signal level - hand signals or other pseudo-calibrated signal
  • drive chopper and check waveform, set phase, open blankoff
  • check labels on all cables - especially 1 vs. 2
  • check/improve strain relief on cables
  • system test: find a bright celestial source and map it. analyze data
  • system test: do photometry. analyze data
  • system test: do polarimetry. analyze data
  • Note: even if no celestial sources available, obtain polarimetry/photometry files and analyze. Carry out this test in such a way as to be able to test if data appears correct: i.e. look at detector noise for 5 hwp positions and then wave hand in from of dewar during 6th postion.
  • Note: Moon not available after 2/3.

Jen at Pole (Approx. 2/2):

• Giles, Dale, Mike V., Jen complete all first-order system tests and systematics tests:
  • system test: test battery lifetime
  • verify focus and measure beamsize (in Az and El) using Venus or pointing/focusing sources
  • develop first-order pointing model by peaking up on four sources (2 high el and two low el)
  • measure instrumental polarization, using one or several of Moon, Venus, M-0.13-0.08, RCW57, jen's calibrator. Do "off-axis test" if possible.
  • measure boresights of all pixels of both arrays and measure RGM.
  • do crude check of throughput by comparing measured source flux to known brightness [We will need to make an estimate of atmospheric transparency by using balloon H2O measurements or astro or CMU tipper]
  • optional: re-check passband by looking at any bright source through each of (a) Hildebrand's 450 micron filter, and (b) low-pass
• Carry out key upgrades to experiment:
  • Jen
    • ftp server and timbuktu on mac
    • ftp server on cryocontroller
    • install new preamp heater power supplies
  • Giles
    • get new batteries soldered up - ask R. Hirsch how it's done
    • snout should never get above 0 degrees C - set it up this way
• Giles: freeze software (with exception of possible addition of hwp checking - see below). Backup and document all software versions.

Greg at Pole (approx. 2/5):

• Greg and Dave P. run experiment (including power-up from scratch)
• Complete second-order system tests and systematics tests
  • exersize system by observing astronomical source for 48 hours.
    • microphonics?
    • noise?
    • offsets?
    • gain stable?
    • phase stable?
    • hwp noise?
    • hwp lose pulses?
    • chopper waveform?
  • Grid test at two nearby grid angles. Get Chi, efficiency, rel sign.
  • look at low-elevation offsets from sun-shield - study time and weather dependence
  • do off-axis test if not yet done.
• Carry out final upgrades to experiment:
  • Jen
    • install and try battery-tester (optional)
    • temperature conversion software on cmbr (optional)
    • timbuktu on cryocontroller (optional)
  • Giles
    • develop plan to warm SPARO to 100 K w/o removing
    • try Matt's new code for automatic hwp checking (optional)
    • set up cryocontroller alarms and document them (optional)
    • test new way to drive chopper (optional)
• begin initial science operations - polarimetry and photometry of bright galactic clouds
• Jen finalize documentation and inventory
  • inventory items:
    • teflon KF-25 O-rings.
    • SPARO spares
• Giles/Jen take measurements and photos of
  • SPARO mount for future use in elec/therm isolation and instrum. switches
  • height of Viper shield rel. to telescope
• Giles/Jen bring back or ship home:
  • steel template for checking
  • spare lockin as Mark D. owns it (will he lend again?)
  • spare 450 micron filter as Roger H. owns it (will he lend again?)
  • spare lenses to get them a/r/coated (??)

Begin winter science observations approx. 2/14:

• continue with first SPARO science: bright Galactic clouds, and R-CrA, and Galactic center
• winter systematics tests
  • Moon scans
  • Polarimetric moon scans - looking for polarized sidelobes. Similar to moon-scans, but do polarimetry at each position. Scans in azimuth are most important. Cuts at various elevations might be helpful also.
  • Does focus depend on elevation or chop throw or temperature?
  • Instrumental polarization: dependence on temperature. (important only if instrumental polarization is > .01)
  • does temp of coldstage depend on elevation. Impt. for photometry
  • how does signal depend on time within one cycle. Impt. for photometry
• Giles is US POC
• Tom, Dave C. - data analysis