Palomar LGSAO Engineering Summary 09/22/05 UT

Goals:
1. Close high-order loop on LGS.
2. Demonstrate pointing laser off zenith.
3. Demonstrate reliable LOWFS focus measurement.
4. Record first LGS-corrected images.

Plan:
1930-2100 Check LLT image quality.
2100-2200 Evaluate AO performance on Neptune and Uranus.
2200-2300 Project laser at zenith, characterize LGS.
2300-0000 Close DTT loop on LGS.
0000-0100 Close UTT loop on LGS.
0200-0300 Demo LOWFS focus measurement.
0300-0530 congingency.

Daytime results:
Installed Johnson V filter in front of acquisition camera.
Laser producing 6.6W on bench.
Roughly aligned BTO at zenith.

Night log:
1924 Watched Minotaur launch from Vandenberg.
1945 Going to star SAO67782.  Current focus 57.10mm.  Checking AO, seeing.
	New focus: 57.28.  acqccd_z = 13646.  Wfs_z = 10450	
Ph0119-121: 42% strehl closed loop.  K' seeing = 0.72"
2000 Starting ASCAM and IRCAM.
2000 Moving to Neptune for extended object tests.
	Lock looks good, reported
Focus in closed-loop: -0.04 mm
	Focus in open-loop: -1.5 mm
	Moving wfs_z to +5000 um.
	Focus in open-loop: -2.5 mm
	Moving wfs_z to -5000 um.
	Focus in open-loop: 0.2 mm
2014 Moving to SAO87251 to focus telescope.
     Tel focus: 57.21 mm
2020 Going to Zenith start laser alignment to BTO and LLT.
	Much alignment & focusing of laser.
2145 Rebooting AO.
2150 Opening dome in preparation of laser projection.
2206 Propagating at zenith, 6.6W.
	Raleigh background: lgs_sky_1
	Acq focus run: lgs_acq_focus_1_focus: minimum~10800, fwhm=17.8
	LLT focus run: lgs_llt_focus_1_focus: cirrus thickening.  Backgrounds bad.
	LLT focus run: lgs_llt_focus_2_focus: best frame: 5250.  FWHM=2.50"
	Acq focus run: lgs_acq_focus_2_focus: minimum~11050, fwhm=16.8
     LLT focus run: lgs_llt_focus_3_focus: minimum~5250, fwhm=17.0
2245 Added 30cm inner diameter mask over LLT primary, to reduce effect of
apparent spherical aberration.
2310 Projecting at zenith.  Detunned image:lgs_sky_3.fits
	LLT focus run: lgs_llt_focus_5_focus: min~5280, fwhm=1.92"
	LLT-out-of-focus image is crescent shaped.  Adjusted M3 until donut
	Focus run 8,9: min = 5180, FWHM=2.5".
	Moved M3 back to previous position.
	Focus run 10: min=5250, FWHM=2.5"
2330 Taking average detuned & tunned images.  LLT=5180.
	Lgs_llt_best_1.fits: 3x2s average
2332 Shuttered by ASCAM.  Detected patchy cirrus cloud.
	Immediately shuttered again.  And again.  Jumpering ASCAM.

2345 Shuttered for unknown reasons. (?!)
2348 Acq focus run: lgs_acq_focus_3_focus: best~11200, fwhm=2.7"
2350 LLT focus run: lgs_llt_focus_12_focus: best~5180, fwhm=2.4"
0005 Acquiring LGS on WFS.
	At 100hz, recording 120 cts/subap.
	Calculated wfs_z=88485.
	Closing TT loop.  Focusing WFS_z using open-loop focus.  Wfs_z=81485
0015 Offloading ttm to llt_tt.
	Llt_a +1 -> ttm_b +1
0017 Shuttered by IRCAM.
0019 Propagating LGS
0020 Shuttered by IRCAM
0022 Propagating LGS.  Shuttered again.  Increased gain range to maximum.
0025 Trying to offload ttm to llt again.
+llt_b = +ttm_a
+llt_a = ???
0035 TT loop now looks stable (after careful offload to llt).
	Tried closing HO loop.  DM went nuts.
	Checking WFS-DM registration (on LGS).  Appears fine.
	TTM residual are not responding to offsets in TTM mirror.  Not clear why.
0045 Thicker cirrus moving in.  No return seen from Na layer.
0055 Shuttering due to clouds.  Closing dome to perform in-dome BTO tests.
0135 Taking Q3 PSD at high power.  Most power is in low frequency (~5 Hz) beam
wander, but with a strong cluster of vibrations near 60 Hz.
0200 Testing BTO servo system.  All signs of M2 & M3 motions check out.
0300 Calling night for laser.
0330 Powering down laser, covering trolley optics.
0410 Attempting to find Anik-2.
0415 Rebooting AO.
0430 Unable to find spacecraft.  Calling it a night.