This week at LASP really felt much more independent. Since Hugh and I finished training, we have much better understanding of our projects. We continued work on our ongoing UV fiber cut-back experiment. This experiment is focused on understanding the UV light transfer through the fiber at different lengths and curvatures. This week we found better methods of ensuring the fiber was aligned properly and other small improvements to decrease the error in our data. However, even with our improvements, this week still had plenty of troubleshooting. Getting the alignment just right is critical for accurate data. In addition it is not easy to tell if the fiber is aligned or not from the test data so it is very important that the alignment be correct before the test.
In addition to our experiments with the optical fibers, this week we also were trained and went into the clean room. The instruments in the clean room are very sensitive so we must put on lots of protection like booties, coveralls, hair net, double-layer of gloves and follow proper procedure to keep everything clean. The most challenging element of this is that you cannot tell if something is clean or dirty so you must be very careful. If the clean room is contaminated it can throw off test results or destroy equipment weeks later. Because of this, any incident must be handled immediately. It only causes more problems if anything is left dirty.
The first photo is of a UV telescope sensor being tested in the cleanroom. Exposing the telescope to water vapor destroys it, so it must be opened and closed very quickly. It was a very intense moment when the technicians opened up the telescope and franticly closed it up after they confirmed its operation. The second photo is the enclosure for the sensor.
Outside the lab, we kept up our routine at the gym in the CU Rec Center and hit a few more hikes up Mount Sanitas. My Dad and brother also visited us this weekend which was very fun.
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