Controls is rebooting IOSIOC. I have inserted MCIS:FC1 for the duration. Let's see what comes of it all.

Later... As expected, the reboot zeroed our optics. ICR issued a FR#4179 on it. Meanwhile, I rechecked the A/q calibration, and found it off a little. Below are before and after shots. The latter shows scanning in both directions. I didn't expect this large a hysteresis. On the other hand, the crossover points make nice reference points for known A/q values.

Later... Controls is investigating the FR! MCIS:FC0 in, and let them 'ave at 'er.

Beam was quiet overnight. I noticed a slow drift that seemed to follow the source pressure. My best guess is that our source gas "regulator" is a little coarse at these flows. Save: 091028_0935.snapiosfc6

I had optimized the RF yesterday, but the source went into a dual-mode toggling regime. It is hairline to find a nice point. I also found that it responds better if frequency is approached from high to low.

Later... After some tweaks earlier, beam is looking pretty good, a solid 3enA at FC6.

BTW, we are still running with the same SO2 gas settings as before, i.e. the calibrated leak valve just barely cracked open. Under the circumstances, it's a sweet spot for us.

Later... Another blip on the field probe at 16:15. Coincidentally the beam took a little hit. Here are the Stripcharts (tight zoom and normal zoom).

On Friday we left 33S5+ on FC6. The separator magnet power supply tripped at some point for unknown reason. The operators turned it on again overnight. Keerthi tweaked and tuned early this morning and just recently. Beam is back to FC6, but displayed A/q is off, though the actual beam is correct.

Beam stayed on quietly overnight, as did the separator stability program. Periodic pulsing continues to occur. No explanation has been proffered so far. Adding ferrite cores appeared to clamp the high spikes, but high spikes reappeared around midnight. There does not appear to be any real effect on the beam or separator.

The Supernanogan was on overnight quietly. FC6 went in this morning. (Didn't check if fingers were involved.) I  now notice a strange pulsing in our Stripchart. See what you think. Note: field and A/q max scales are orders of magnitude higher than real life.

Later...At around 14:00 I added ferrite cores to the field probe cable at the CANbus interface box. That clipped the high side of the pulses completely. If I play very carefully with the field range, I can get small artifact-looking pulses to appear since I installed them (see 17:16 chart). In the meantime, I found that, contrary to appearances, the field stability program was not really regulating. A remote reboot of the server cured it.

I alsmost want to write, see yesterday's entry! Source ran quietly with no interruptions. FTR, the separator stability program is also percolating along nicely. It was taking hits from nearby EMI until I added a ferrite split core to its USB cable at the computer end.

The source stayed up quietly overnight with about 4enA on FC6. Once in a while a little burp occurs, visible as small beam and vacuum spikes. I have tweaked the RF frequency up a little for better centre of range.

Switch on source for stats. Source lit up perfectly. Slight adjustment on RF frequency.

33S development is completed.  A 3nA of 33S+5 can be produced with 10W of RF power and 2.5mm aperture.

If more beam is needed apertures and the power must be increased.  There are some consequences for doing this.

MCIS optics and RF are off for the night.

Source started. 33S5+ beam on FC6 using gas flow determined yesterday. At first blush, it appears we need a slightly higher flow. But for now we will spend some time optimizing with what we have. We may open and adjust the flow later.

Later... This flow is okay for now. It requires a *really* fine control, which we do not have at present. 3enA with 10W of power. One source spark about a half hour ago. Mainly it knocked off the separator PS. Spill characteristics are slightly different also.

MCIS was running with background only. Prepare to open SO2 source gas...

MCIS:IG1 = 5.4e-8 Torr

TP1 = 13W

TP2 = 10W

Status: Leak valve closed, line valve open.

Bump leak valve carefully... but not carefully enough. Pressure bump, and back to 6e-8. I am using line valve as a needle valve. Pretty touchy, but it works.

 IOSIOC whiteouts and other funny things... I will ask assistance from ICR.

MCIS:IG1:= 7.4e-8 Torr with line valve barely cracked.

Well, it turns out that ICR is having trouble with other ion gauges in apparently unrelated sections. Interesting. Meanwhile, MCIS:IG1 trippd off and EPICS will not allow a reset. MCISIOC looks white... restart it.

Later... Controls + ICR have rebooted PLC1IOC and PLC2IOC, and perhaps others. Anyway, stuff is working again. Beam is on to MCIS:FC1 and IOS:FC3.

Later... Still no beam visible on FC6. But IG1 has crept up to ~2e-7 Torr. Open cage and adjust down. It's just about the smallest increment I can make, but it's a big step down. Meanwhile, The readback for IOS:MB field went crazy for a moment. I have it on a Stripchart, below.

Later... Liftoff. We now have 200epA on FC6 at 13.10GHz. Let it sit for a bit. Other possible resonances at 13.17, 13.24, 13.27, 13.34GHz.

The source is on. There is background beam on FC6 presently, less than yesterday. That's probably a good thing. Let it cook for a bit, then check the tune. Note: EL is off, as yesterday.

Keerthi has reinstalled the SO2 source gas bottle onto MCIS. Presently it is closed off to the source. We have restarted the plasma. Present goal: a good setup for 33S5+ with background levels (hopefully near zero) on FC6. Source pressure was 4.xe-8 Torr this morning, and has crept up to 5.0e-8 since we restarted the RF.

Later... We scaled a A/q=5.5 tune up to A/q=6.6 (33/5). Separator field = 1459.9G. Tuning in progress.

Later... First pass, shown below. Skimmers < 5uA. Snap: 091013_1651.snapiosfc6

Source switched off for the night.

MCIS:TP1 = 12W

MCIS:TP2 = 11W

IOS:IG4 reads 1.25 e-7 Torr and IOS:IG1 reads 9.8e-8 Torr with IOS:IV7 is open

IOS:IG4 reads 8.35 e-8 Torr and IOS:IG1 reads 7.49e-8 Torr with IOS:IV7 is closed

Neon leak close for upcoming 33S development.

MCIS TP3 foumd off by 1:00 pm.  Restarted without a problem

Before TP3 is on MCIS:IG1 is 5.47e-8 Torr.

After MCIS:TP3 = 5.21e-8 Torr

SO2 gas line is connected again. Leak hand valve is closed.

Intermediate section is pumping through source chamber.

CSB development is completed.

Friedhelm and Marco have requested 20Ne2+ from the Supernanogan, and plan to bring up the same from the CSB today. I am beginning MCIS bias conditioning. Goal: 24kV, maybe 25. Last save: 091008_0933.snapiosfc6

Later... Conditioning completed to 26kV. Set up a 20Ne2+ tune. It's largely a manual operation. Q3 off in keeping with the failure that occurred during the Mg run a while back.

Still later...We had a PV1 trip somewhere around 11am. That set us back apiece. Finally, done. Hand over to Sophia around 13:30. Snap: 091008_1325.snapiosfc6

Two notes to mention:

1. We fitted ferrite bead cores to all of the CANbus cables inside the IOS rack, as well as a couple at the Philtek separator power supply. We did this sequentially, observing CANbus cards on unfitted cards trip while the others stayed up, each time there was a significant bias spark. Right now the IOS CANbus diagnostics panel is all green, something I have not seen for a while.

2. As noted above, MCIS:PV1 tripped during our setup. We didn't notice until bias trips became unusually frequent without provocation. We happen to have been running emittance scans at the time, and could not account for an increasingly worse triangular shape to the emittance plot. Now we will recognize that shape as an indicator of a vacuum condition. I will paste them below later.