CHAMP:Manual

Manual for the CHARA-Michigan Phasetracker

Quick Startup Guide

How to log into CHAMP for development.

1) Open three xterms, xterm1, xterm2, xterm3.

2) In xterm1: log as champdev@champ (192.168.2.136), pwd: *mIRC-Champ!

3) In xterm2: log as devel@192.168.3.143 (wolverine), pwd: *mIRC-Champ!

4) In xterm3: log as devel@192.168.3.143 (wolverine), pwd: *mIRC-Champ!

5) Open in a web browser: http://mirc-rpc02 (user: apc, pwd: apc ). Select Outlet/Control in the left bar. Use Immediate Turn On for CHAMP scanning PZTs, CHAMP Electronics and CHAMP picomotors (#1, 2, 4 in the list)

6) In xterm1,type:

cd ~/control/CHAMP/modtrig/

./modtrig (and press ENTER to stop it)

cd ../user

sudo ./astropci_usr 60000

7) In xterm2, type:

cd ~/CHAMP/gui/IRCam/

python IRCamMain.py

The IR Camera gui should launch.

Click Update DAQ in the FPA Tab.

Click Update Server in the FT Tab.

Click Config Camera in the FPA Tab.

Click Start Exposure in the top bar.

The camera now acquires frames.

8) In xterm 3, type:

cd ~/CHAMP/champGui/

python champFT.py

This will launch the main FT gui for CHAMP.

Alignment

Nightly Alignment

Starting Shutters: ssh -XY observe@192.168.3.31 shutgtk

Starting the picomotor GUI

ssh devel@192.168.3.143

cd ~/CHAMP/picoM/Final

python main.py

Starting the retro-reflector gui: ssh observe@zoot 'espgtk RETRO'

Full Alignment

1.) Turn on the CHAMP alignment laser
2.) Align each beam on R1 target using A0
3.) Align on L1 using A1
4.) Put blocker on R1 (using L1/L2-target), so you don't see two spots
5.) Align on R2 using A2
6.) Put blocker on L1 (using the R1/2-target)
7.) Align on target L2 using A3
8.) Take out blocker on L2 for alignment of Towers of Power
9.) Align L1-L6 mirrors on Towers of Power
10.) Put blocker on R1 (using R1/R2-target)
11.) Put blocker on Towers of Power 3-4
12.) Align Towers of Power 1-2 (R1-R6)
13.) Put blocker on Towers of Power 1-2
14.) Align Towers of Power 3-4 (L1-L6)
15.) Put blocker on L1 target
16.) Align beam splitter on Tower of Power 1-2
17.) Put blocker on R1 target in order to check alignment on Tower of Power 3-4
18.) Turn off the alignment laser

Hardware Subsystems

Dichroic Pickoffs

We have provided 3 sets of pickoff optics for use with CHAMP (the angle-of-incidence is 3 degrees). Each is designed with a 30' wedge and have been oriented with thick part down (i.e., transmitted beams is bent downward by 13.7', which may be relevant for downstream combiners during alignment procedure). All substrates have a broadband AR coating on the back-surface and the reflected light comes primarily from the front surface.

  * Short-wave Pass (SWP): 

These IR-grade Fused Silica substrates are coated with a dichroic coating to reflect K' band (2-2.3 microns) and to transmit JH bands (1.1-1.8 microns).

• Media:omega_swp.pdf: Performance of Shortwave Pass Dichroic (Omega)

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  * Long-wave Pass (LWP):

These Calcium Fluoride substrates are coated with a dichroic coating to reflect JH bands (1.1-1.8 microns) and to transmit K' band (2-2.3 microns and longer for possible future experiments).

• Media:lwp_performance_001.pdf: Performance of Longwave Pass Dichroic (Omega)

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  * Pickoffs Beam-splitters (BS):

These Calcium Fluoride beamsplitters were rejected from American Torch due to the coating not meeting specifications and the performance curves being proven unreliable. We believe the the coatings are about 50/50 at HK bands but are more like 75/25 (mostly transmitting) at J and beyond K band. This might prove useful in the future, but we do not expect these pickoff optics to be the best choice for most observers. Here is a measured transmission curve from the company, although we have not verified the accuracy yet:

• Media:Torch_BS_performance.pdf: Performance for (rejected) Beamsplitter Coatings (American Torch)

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Piezo Scanners

Piezojena 8micron Hardware card from National Instruments

Beamsplitters

The IR-grade Fused silica beamsplitters are 50% +/- 10% over the full JHK' bandpasses. The coatings were done by Omega Optical and you can find the coating performance here. The angle of incidence is ~11.5 degrees.

• Media:omega_bs.pdf: Beamsplitter Performance (Omega)

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Software

Real-time system (notes from Ettore 2010May)

Click here for detail on the upgrade to the realtime system RT_System

Appendices

Diagrams

targets filter box diagram filterwheel key

Spares

Optics

• Two (2) fused silica beam splitters for CHAMP combiner

• One (1) fused silica short-wave pass (SWP) dichroic pickoff

• One (1) calcium fluoride long-wave page (LWP) dichroic pickoff

• One (1) elliptical mirror mounted to invar piezo mount

• Four (4) f=450mm spherical mirrors for Tower of Power

• One (1) image slicer T1

• One (1) image slicer T2

• One (1) image slicer B1 [note: we are using the spare. the original B1 has some coating problems near apex and is put back as a backup/spare

• One (1) image slicer B2 [note: the backup spare B2 has slight problem where the bottom-right quad, B2d, is too large in one dimension. This means the pyramid will not fit in the holder. If one needs to use this backup, one will need to mill-out extra clearance in the holder]

Other things: TBDocumented, some card for camera electronics. zabar motors.

• One (1) motherboard for servers (compatible with mirkwood, champ -- one kept at CHARA, one at UM)

-- Main.monnier - 08 Feb 2009