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Table of Contents

1. Science/Technical Highlight

A team of DKIST scientists and engineers traveled to the Leibniz-Institut für Sonnenphysik (KIS; previously known as the Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik) in Freiburg, Germany to help conduct the laboratory acceptance testing of the Visible Tunable Filter (VTF) instrument. The VTF will be the fifth facility-class instrument to be installed on DKIST, and it will be delivered by KIS as in-kind contribution in exchange for guaranteed time on the telescope for the German solar physics community.  It successfully completed its laboratory acceptance testing in late July 2023 and is scheduled to be delivered and installed on DKIST in early 2024. The VTF has been under development for nearly a decade and is arguably the most highly anticipated DKIST instrument for the global solar physics community.  For more information see:

https://www.leibniz-kis.de/en/news/article/etalon-ins-visible-tunable-filter-integriert-lab-acceptance-test-begonnen/

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The VTF Instrument with the integrated etalon (silver cylinder lower right). Photo courtesy of KIS.

2. Current Photos

3. Directorate

• Dave Boboltz started his new position as DKIST Deputy Associate Director (DAD) on July 3, 2023.

• Thomas and Dave worked on letters of support for KIS in Freiburg, Germany in response to recommendations from the Senate of the Leibniz Association.

• Thomas traveled to KIS to attend the laboratory acceptance testing and to meet with KIS leadership regarding the KIS-DKIST partnership.

4. Science Operations (Alexandra and Andres)

4.1 Cycle experiment generation progress

4.2 Cycle observing progress

• There were a total of XX experiments observed this month during Cycle Y.Z.

• Otherwise, if there are no new observations to report this month we can just say so here and delete the table.

4.3 Operations schedule and training activities

5 Technical Operations

5.1 Electrical/Electronics

5.2 Facility Management System

5.3 Site IT/Software

5.4 Mechanical

5.5 Opto-Mechanical

5.6 Systems Engineering

6 Instrumentation Operations

6.1 Facility Instrument Distribution Optics (FIDO)/Polarization Analysis and Calibration (PA&C)

• The optics team changed to FIDO configuration 3a.

• The final testing and delivery of beamsplitter GS50T950 was delayed due to delamination of the coating back in June. Coating was stripped and recoated by IOI, then resent to Zygo for final testing and assembly. During this period, the vendor discovered one pin for the cover was incorrectly installed, resulting in a unique cover for this optic. DKIST and the vendor agreed to clearly identify this one cover and associated optic.

• A contract for two additional beamsplitters was developed, including a quote from Zygo, coating development from IOI, associated statement of work, specifications, and executive summary. Package was delivered to AURA for approvals and submission to NSF.

• New foam cutouts for stored FIDO optics were installed.

• The GOS optics were cleaned to remove dust and bug parts.

• An analysis of the GOS coolant shows no drop-off in coolant flow since the valve was fully opened in April. The team has decided not to agitate the valve this engineering period and will replace the valve in November.

• Some work on the M9b table and mountings has begun, but is on hold due to higher priorities. The M9b blank is on order and expected toward the end of this year. Coating development for this blank continues.

6.2 Wavefront Correction System (WFS)

• Further vibration data were collected and analyzed. Dampening the mount drive fans has significantly improved performance. Other, lesser, vibration frequencies are now being investigated.

• Testing of the non-common path vibration camera began with data taken in front of the ViSP slit. These data are under analysis.

• New LUTs for rotational effects due to M3 and M6 have been calculated and deployed for the upcoming August OCP. These should significantly reduce the nutation effects seen by the Cryo-NIRSP.

6.3 Visible Spectro-Polarimeter (ViSP)

• Delivery of the replacement gearbox for arm 3 was confirmed as Sep 6th. We will continue to monitor this delivery. Dr Alfred DeWijn, one of the ViSP developers, has agreed to join us the week of Sep 18th to remove arm 3, replace the gearbox, and reinstall/realign the arm.

• The positioning of arm 3 at the zeroth order was tested to confirm the location for disassembly and reassembly testing.

• Testing of the slit focus showed a 2mm error. The slit was manually moved to compensate. Testing will occur during the first day of on-sun in August.

• All FIDO 3a experiments were tested for focus and exposure times.

• Further HLS work was done on focus and alignment scripts, again to be tested in August.

6.4 Diffraction Limited Near-Infrared Spectro-Polarimeter (DL-NIRSP)

• Continued development of MISI-36 lab test and integration plans. We are ready for lab acceptance.

• Continued work on software efficiency and edge case fixes.

• IRCAM-2 was tuned to lower the effects of the bias jitter. Memory was added to IRCAM-1 so that the same tuning can occur for that camera.

• MISI-116 contract was developed and submitted to NSF for approval.

6.5 Cryogenic Near-Infrared Spectro-Polarimeter (Cryo-NIRSP)

• Temporary tilting of the Cryo-NIRSP warm filter holder reduced the ghosting seen in the data. A permanent warm filter holder is currently under design. Replacement is scheduled for November.

• Several camera data and synchronization issues were investigated and corrected during this engineering campaign.

6.6 Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO)

• Work continues on the 4km and 11km deformable mirrors. The 4km DM will be ready for design review later this year. The 11km DM has had several delays due to personnel and requirements. These are currently being addressed.

• The new balcony and repositioning of the WFS HOAO on the summit WFS table has been tested. The new balcony will need additional struts to be installed make the system stiffer.

• The PCO camera has been delayed but is still within acceptable schedule.

• Real-time control development is still ongoing and on schedule.

6.7 Infrared Cameras

• First Read-Only Integrated Circuit (ROIC) has been delivered. We are working on acceptable ITAR compliance.

• Short wave detectors look acceptable and are on schedule. Mid-wave detectors will be inspected next.

• An Operations Concept has been written so that we can begin exploring controllers for these detectors.

• Schedule planning continues for lab development and future instrument integration.

• Work on modifications to the DL-NIRSP and Cryo-NIRSP related to the IR cameras has been put on hold for higher priority tasks.

7 Data Center Operations

7.1 Hardware Infrastructure

7.2 Software Infrastructure

7.2.1 Data Center

7.2.2 Portal/Archive

7.3 Science Data Processing

7.3.1 Calibration Pipelines

7.3.1 Data Released

• There were a total of XX data sets released to their PIs this month and a total of YY data sets released to the public this month.

• Otherwise, if there are no new data sets released this month we can just say so here and delete the table.