Some notes on aligning the laser through the beam transport.

Update Nov 2021: Most of the alignment is now indeed automated and can be controlled using Claudio's GUI, but camera issues still require manual alignment every now and then.

References can be found here and are hard-coded into the auto-aligner: Laser cameras and alignment references

HeNe: Automated alignment procedure (GUI)

Go to facet home → Matlab GUIs → S20 Laser Tools → S20 Laser Auto Alignment

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The GUI looks like this (updated Feb 2022):

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• Press 'Stop Alignment' (red button). This will stop any scripts running on other machines.
• Then tick boxes for the references/mirrors to align and click 'Clear References', then 'Grab References', and 'Start Alignment'.

• For the IR laser in the laser room we use the first two lines (Pulse Picker and Regen Out, Preamp Near and Far). We are NOT using MPA Near and Far at this moment (Feb 2022).
• For the beam transport we use HeNe Near and Far, B0/B1, B2/B3, B5 and B6. B5 and B6 need background subtraction. B4 is currently too noisy to work reliably and we align it manually (Feb 2022).

• The HeNe can be blocked and unblocked using the button under HeNe status. It is recommended to press 'Pause Alignment' (orange button) to avoid issues with the aligner.

Claudio recommends to take a few minutes to set a suitable ROI and to grab a background before starting the procedure and to do one at a time at the beginning to speed things up.

Every time a new ROI has been selected, one has to grab new references.

HeNe: Manual alignment procedure

• Find reference in the laser alignment reference tab

Note the coordinates are for NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE which indicates the direction of the axes.

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IR: Manual alignment procedure

Now after aligning the HeNe, we can proceed with using the IR laser and overlapping its beam path with the HeNe.

• Check references on DMNear and Far

• Block HeNe in laser room (this is now motorised):
  The motor can be found at facet home → Laser → LI20 → Infrastructure → Controllers (mid column): XPS MOC-LA20-LS24 → Ch3
  IN is at 10, OUT is at 8. OUT means block is out and laser can pass.

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• Close Iris near the DM to 'Align' (now motorised).
• Now someone has to bring on the laser in the tunnel
• Open shutter on Laser → LI20→ Laser and then the shutter next to LSS EPS EPICS from High to Low

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