Installation
Etalon
- Note: The etalon weight is 19.5 kg, not including the mounting
plate.
- If the MMTF etalon is not attached to its mounting plate, attach
it. The orientation of the etalon is important. In the left
figure below, the CS-100 cable ports are in the correct rotational
orientation (at the bottom of the picture) with respect to the
mounting plate flanges. In the right figure below, the ports are such
that the etalon is right-side up.
A top view of the MMTF, attached to its mounting plate. Note the
correct orientation of the CS-100 cable ports (at bottom) with
respect to the mounting flanges. (Click for a larger image.)
A side view of the MMTF, attached to its mounting plate. Note
the correct orientation of the CS-100 cable ports, ensuring that the
etalon is right-side up. (Click for a larger image.)
- Ensure that the two clear, protective covers covering the etalon
aperture are in place.
- Secure the etalon in the disperser wheel using the same procedure
as for other IMACS gratings. In the disperser wheel service position,
the MMTF cable sockets will be pointing out and down, as shown in the
image below (in the "5 o'clock" position as viewed from the rear of
the instrument, looking toward the telescope).
A view of the MMTF when mounted in the disperser wheel, with
CS-100 cables connected. (Click for a larger image.)
- Plug into the MMTF the 5 cables connecting the etalon to the
CS-100 controller. Be sure that the X, Y, and Z cables are matched
properly with their respective sockets.
- Remove the two covers protecting either side of the etalon
aperture.
Filters and Masks
1. Install the intermediate-band blocking filters specified by the
observer.
2. If charge-shuffling has been specified by the observer, insert
MMTF slit mask "A".
3. Find and install an IMACS slit mask that has 5-10 guide star
holes (square apertures) dispersed somewhat evenly over the central
half of the field-of-view. This mask will be used for checking the position of the optical axis.
Etalon CS-100 Controller
WARNING: Never set the
Zcoarse dial on the CS-100 below -2! Doing so may damage the etalon coating.
CAUTION: The
cables between the CS-100 controller and etalon should never be
attached or removed while the CS-100 power is on.
Front panel of the CS-100. (Click for a larger, more readable image.)
The CS-100 is the electronic brain of MMTF. It is located in the
IMACS electronics rack. For a more detailed description than that
provided here, read the CS-100
manual.
Features
- Mode Knob. In Balance mode, changes to the etalon
controls balance
out the capacitance bridges in the feedback loop, but do not move
the etalon plates. In Operate mode, changes to the controls
affect the position of the etalon plates.
- Xcoarse, Xfine, Xquad,
Ycoarse, Yfine, Yquad (X and Y
coarse, fine, and "quadrature balance" knobs). The X and Y
settings control the degree to which the etalon plates are parallel by
tilting one of the plates around two axes parallel to the plate
surface. The coarse and fine knobs control the actual tilts, while
the quad knobs fine-tune the electronic balances.
- Zcoarse, Zfine, Zquad (Z
coarse, fine, and "quadrature balance" knobs). The Z settings
control the spacing between the plates ("piston" motion).
- LED indicators. There are 4 indicators in the center of the
panel. (1) The green Operate light
indicates that the etalon feedback loop is on and working properly.
(2) The orange Balance light indicates
that Balance mode is enabled. (3) A red Out of
Range light when the etalon is in Operate mode signifies that
the etalon is not properly balanced. (4) The red Disabled light illuminates when control of the
CSS-100 is taken over by the IMACS computer. (The CS-100 front panel
controls do not work when the computer has control.)
- Meters. The three meters show how far away the X, Y, and Z
feedback loops are from being balanced. The center position ("0")
indicates balance.
- Meter Display Knob. In the Offset position, the
meters respond to changes in Xfine, Yfine, and
Zfine. In the Quadrature Error position, the meters
respond to changes in Xquad, Yquad, and
Zquad.
- Response Time Knob. This knob controls how quickly the
etalon responds to requested changes in X, Y, and Z. It should be set
to 2.0 ms.
Initial Configuration
- Ensure that the Mode knob is in the Balance setting. Power
on the CS-100.
- Ensure that the CS-100 Meter Display knob is set to
Offset. Using the knobs on the left side of the CS-100, dial
in the following numbers to balance the capacitance feedback loop and
parallelize the etalon. Replace ? with the
Zcoarse specified by the observer.
coarse fine quad
X -1 7.11 4.20
Y 0 6.80 3.78
Z ? 4.10 4.34
- Turn the Mode knob to Operate. After a few seconds, the
Operate light should illuminate, indicating
the feedback loop is now in active operation and functioning properly.
If instead the Out of Range light
illuminates, the etalon must be re-balanced; follow the balancing instructions.
Changing Zcoarse
Follow this procedure.
Startup
Once the CS-100 in the rack is powered on, you are ready to
initialize the IMACS software for MMTF use and perform set-up
calibrations.
Procedure when starting MMTF at the beginning of a run:
- If the IMACS software is already loaded, exit the software.
- Run the IMACS Setup
Tool (command % imacs setuptool, which must be run from
the imacs account) to input the
CS-100 settings that presently appear on the front panel dials .
The settings are those originally
dialed in, plus any changes made to tweak the balance.
- Enable access to MMTF observing scripts by typing
% touch .imacs_use_script
in the imacs user's home directory (/Users/imacs/). If this
step is performed once the IMACS GUIs have already been loaded, simply
exit and restart the f/2 CamGUI.
- Start up the IMACS software (% imacs).
- Run standard IMACS initialization procedures.
- Open the HardHat GUI to enable changes to Xfine and
Yfine.
- Parallelize the etalon. [procedure]
- Check the position of the optical axis. [procedure]
- Take a reference ring and sausage cube in each filter the observer
will use. Be sure to first optimize the parallelism in each filter.
[procedure]
Procedure if MMTF has already been set up, and you are simply
changing the value of Zcoarse in the middle of a run:
- Release computer control of the CS-100 with the Etalon
button in the HardHat GUI. [procedure]
- At the CS-100 front panel, switch to Balance mode. Turn
the Zcoarse dial by one unit in the direction of the
desired Zcoarse. Switch back to Operate mode. If
the Operate light illuminates, repeat this
procedure until the desired Zcoarse is reached. If instead
the Out of Range light illuminates, follow these steps.
- Run the IMACS Setup
Tool (% imacs setuptool) to input the new
Zcoarse setting, plus any changes made to tweak the
balance.
- Re-acquire computer control of the CS-100 with the Etalon
button in the HardHat GUI. [procedure]
- Parallelize the etalon at the new value of Zcoarse. [procedure]
- Take a reference ring and sausage cube in each filter the observer
will use. Be sure to first optimize the parallelism in each filter.
[procedure]
Cam GUI
When MMTF is properly initialized by touching the
.imacs_use_script file in the observer's directory, a new
version of the f/2 CamGUI is enabled:
MMTF version of the CamGUI.
The additional Script section of CamGUI allows the following tasks:
- Exec: Run an etalon script (opens a confirmation
dialog box).
- Create: Create an etalon script for observing, sausage cube
calibrations, or parallelism calibrations (opens a dialog
box).
There is also a new ExpType: MMTF-Shuffle, for the
charge shuffling / freqency straddle observing mode. Selecting this
opens a dialog
box.
HardHat GUI
Part of the HardHat GUI is specifically devoted to MMTF:
MMTF area of the HardHat GUI.
This additional area enables the following:
- Control of the CS-100 is released from / acquired by the IMACS
observing computer with the Etalon button. Control of the
CS-100 should be returned to the instrument front panel if, e.g., the
etalon goes Out of Balance,
Zcoarse needs to be changed, or the CS-100 is being turned
off.
On pressing the Etalon button, the user will be prompted to
release the etalon. Once it is released, the button will alternately
flash red and black and the Disabled LED on
the CS-100 will turn off. When the button is pressed again, computer
control is re-acquired, the Etalon button stops flashing, and
the Disabled LED illuminates.
- Xfine and Yfine are adjusted only through the
dialogue boxes in the HardHat GUI. Zfine can be changed
either here, or in the MechGUI.
- The front panel settings, as specified in the IMACS Setup Tool,
are displayed here. (I.e., if they were entered incorrectly into the
Setup Tool, they'll be wrong here, as well as in the FITS headers.)
NOTE: The X, Y, and Z fine computer
units uniquely specify the absolute plate spacing only in reference to
the CS-100 front panel dials. When the front panel dials are set and
control of the CS-100 is acquired by the IMACS computer, the computer
X, Y and Z fine values are set to a reference value of 2048. Changes
in X, Y, and Z fine are then defined such that 2048 computer units =
1.00 front panel units, or 1/10 of a full dial turn. (However, the
values initially displayed in the HardHat GUI when IMACS is started
may not always be the reference values.)
Takedown
When the etalon needs to be dismounted from the IMACS disperser
wheel, the CS-100 needs to first be turned off and unplugged from the
etalon. Use the following procedure:
- Release computer control of the CS-100 with the Etalon
button in the HardHat GUI.
- At the CS-100 front panel: Turn the Mode knob to Balance.
Once the Balance light illuminates, turn
the CS-100 off using the Power switch.
- At the IMACS disperser wheel: Attach a clear fiberglass cover to
side of the MMTF aperture. Remove the MMTF cables from their sockets.
- Dismount MMTF!
Troubleshooting
Balancing
The etalon will sometimes fail to operate when the Mode knob is
first turned to Operate, as indicated by the Out of Range light. (This occurs most often at
very low or high values of Zcoarse.) Alternatively, the
CS-100 will operate only briefly, or go Out of
Range when changes are made to X, Y, or Z at the computer. If
computer control is enabled, this failure state should be accompanied
by a message from the IMACS observing software, but will also manifest
itself as an absence of coherent Fabry-Perot rings in images.
If the etalon goes Out of Range while at
the IMACS computer, first release
computer control of the CS-100.
At the CS-100 panel, turn the Mode knob from Operate to
Balance and back again. If the etalon is still Out of Range, use the following procedure, which
involves adjusting the quadrature balances at a Zcoarse
value near the one at which you are working.
- Raise or lower Zcoarse by 1 unit (while in
Balance Mode).
- Turn the Mode knob to Operate and the Meter Display knob to
Quadrature Error.
- You may find that the meter voltages in X, Y, and/or Z deviates
significantly from zero. Re-null the proper channel(s) using the
quadrature balance knob(s) while in Operate mode.
- Switch to Balance, move Zcoarse back to the
desired value, and switch back to Operate.
- If the etalon operates without going out of range, you're done.
Write down the new values of X, Y, and Zquad from the
quadrature balance knobs, and enter them into the computer with the IMACS Setup
Tool before (re-)aquiring computer control.
We include here for completeness the procedure for re-balancing the
etalon from scratch. However, this should not be needed under
practical circumstances.
- Ensure that the Mode knob is set to Balance and the Meter
Display knob set to Offset.
- Adjust the X, Y, and Z coarse and fine dials so that the three
meters are nulled (the needles should point to 0, or straight up).
- Switch the Meter Display knob to Quadrature Error.
- Adjust the X, Y, and Z quadrature balance dials so that the three
meters are nulled.
- Repeat steps 1-4.
- Switch the Mode knob to Operate. If the Operate light illuminates, the feedbak loop is in
operation and functioning properly. If instead the Out of Range light illuminates, the feedback loop
is not properly balanced. Repeat the above procedure.