CW UV Laser.docx

Request for Information/Sources Sought Notice Commercial Supply Contract Type: Firm Fixed Price Purchase Order Title: Sources Sought Notice for a Narrow-Linewidth, Frequency-Doubled 556 nm Laser System Notice ID Number: NB305000-26-00682

PURPOSE

The purpose of this sources sought notice is to conduct market research and identify potential sources of commercial products/services that satisfy the Government’s anticipated needs. This notice shall not be construed as a Request for Quote. Respondents are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for information or administrative costs incurred in the response to this notice. All costs associated with responding to the notice will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this notice does not preclude participation in any future RFQ or other solicitation (if any are issued). This is a market survey, not a pre-solicitation notice. There is no formal solicitation available at this time. No award will be made as a result of this market survey. If a formal solicitation is generated at a later date, a pre-solicitation notice will be published. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this survey, or results of information submitted. The government is seeking a domestic product, if commercially available, that meets all the technical specifications provided in this document below.

BACKGROUND

The Fundamental Thermodynamics Group conducts fundamental and applied research to improve the measurement of thermodynamic quantities. Develops new measurement methods for pressure, vacuum, and temperature using atomic and molecular gases, refractometry, solid-state point defects, optomechanics, integrated photonics, advanced nanofabrication technologies, and advanced AI.

NIST continually improves the performance of national standards, participates in national and international intercomparisons to validate these standards, and produces assessments of their respective measurement uncertainty. NIST has recently begun developing primary thermometers based on measurements of the Doppler effect in atomic gases, specifically cesium and ytterbium.

SCOPE

The contractor shall deliver a quantity of one (1) Narrow-Linewidth, Frequency-Doubled 556 nm Laser System, inclusive of FOB Delivery terms (or equivalent INCOTERM such as DDP)

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Description: IR Spectrometer system Quantity: One (1) A. Technical Specifications:

1. Narrow seed laser.

i. The seed laser shall have an output light wavelength centered at 1111.60 nm.

ii. The seed laser output light must be coupled to polarization maintaining PM-FC/APC fiber (with key aligned to Slow Axis), with output power (through the fiber) of at least 130 mW.

iii. The polarization extinction ratio at the fiber output shall be at least 20 dB.

iv. The seed laser shall have an instantaneous (Lorentzian) spectral linewidth less than or equal to 1 kHz.

v. The seed laser shall have mode hop free tuning range of at least 5 GHz.

vi. The seed laser shall have a total tuning range of at least +/- 2 nm.

vii. The seed laser shall include all necessary control and drive electronics, such as temperature controllers, PZT controllers, and current controllers.

viii. Control electronics that are not integrated with the laser head shall be rack mountable.

ix. The laser control electronics shall include a proportional-integral-differential (PID) controller with lock-in detection.

x. The seed laser shall have an USB and a TCP/IP control interface.

xi. The seed laser system shall have programmability with Python.

xii. The seed laser system and PID controller (see A.9) shall be operable via a graphical PC user interface (PC GUI).

xiii. The seed laser head shall be a benchtop-type instrument.

2. Frequency-doubled fiber amplifier.

i. The frequency doubler shall have a single-pass design (to ensure phase-coherent doubling of an optical frequency comb).

ii. The frequency doubler shall have a wavelength output bandwidth extending from 555.5 nm or less to at least 556.5 nm.

iii. The fiber amplifier shall operate with optical input power from 30 mW or less to at least 100 mW.

iv. The input to the fiber amplifier shall be a polarization maintaining PM-FC/APC fiber (with key aligned to the slow axis) that is at least 1 m long.

v. The frequency-doubled fiber amplifier shall be rack mountable with a bench-top optical output head.

vi. The frequency-doubled fiber amplifier and the optical output head shall be air-cooled.

vii. The umbilical connecting the frequency-doubled fiber amplifier and the optical output head shall be at least 1.35 m long.

viii. The frequency-doubled optical power output shall be at least 1 W.

ix. The frequency-doubled output shall have an instantaneous (Lorentzian) spectral linewidth less than or equal to 2 kHz.

x. The frequency-doubled output shall have a relative intensity noise less than 0.1 % RMS from 100 Hz to 10 MHz.

xi. The frequency-doubled power output shall be stable to less than +/- 0.5 % over 8 h.

xii. The frequency-doubled output shall be linearly polarized with a polarization extinction ratio greater than 300:1.

xiii. The optical output head shall have a free-space output with a TEM00 mode shape, an M2 < 1.1, and a beam diameter of 1.0 +/- 0.2 mm.

xiv. The optical output head shall have a beam pointing stability of +/- 0.5 urad/C or lower.

xv. The frequency-doubled fiber amplifier shall include all necessary control and drive electronics, such as temperature controllers, PZT controllers, and current controllers.

xvi. Control electronics that are not integrated with the frequency-doubled fiber amplifier or its optical output head shall be rack mountable.

3. Laser narrowing electronics.

i. The laser narrowing electronics shall include a module for generation and detection of Pound-Drever-Hall error signals (denoted as “PDH module” below).

ii. The PDH module shall have two independent channels, each capable of generating and detecting a PDH error signal.

iii. Each PDH module channel shall have a modulation output, a local-oscillator output, an error output, and a signal input.

iv. All PDH module inputs and outputs shall have 50 Ohm impedance.

v. The PDH module modulation outputs shall be capable of outputting signals at 5 MHz or 25 MHz.

vi. The PDH module modulation outputs shall be capable of output power of at least 10 dBm.

vii. The phase difference between the PDH module local-oscillator outputs and the modulation outputs shall be adjustable over a 360° range.

viii. The PDH module signal inputs shall operate with input signals from ≤ - 10 dBm to ≥ 10 dBm.

ix. The PDH module local-oscillator outputs shall be capable of output power of at least 10 dBm.

x. The PDH module error outputs shall have an output voltage range of at least ± 1.5 V.

xi. The PDH module error outputs shall have a bandwidth of at least 50 MHz.

xii. The PDH module error outputs shall have a group delay of 20 ns or less.

xiii. The PDH module may be integrated with the control electronics for the seed laser (see A. above) or be a standalone unit.

xiv. The laser narrowing electronics shall include a proportional-integral-differential (PID) controller.

xv. The PID controller shall have two input channels.

xvi. The PID controller input channels shall have 50 Ohm impedance.

xvii. The PID controller input channels shall have a voltage noise < 3 nV/√Hz.

xviii. The PID controller input channels shall have an input voltage range of at least ± 1.8 V.

xix. The PID controller shall have a fast feedback output with a bandwidth of at least 50 MHz.

xx. The PID controller fast feedback output shall have a group delay less than 10 ns.

xxi. The PID controller fast feedback output shall have an output impedance of 50 Ohm.

xxii. The PID controller fast feedback output shall have an output voltage range of at least ± 1.7 V into a 50 Ohm load.

xxiii. The PID controller fast feedback output shall be capable of DC gain of at least 95 dB.

xxiv. The PID controller fast feedback output have at least 1 proportional stage, 2 integrator stages, and 1 differential stage.

xxv. The PID controller shall have a slow feedback output with a bandwidth of at least 15 kHz.

xxvi. The PID controller slow feedback output shall have a 50 Ohm impedance.

xxvii. The PID controller slow feedback output shall have an output voltage range of at least ± 3.7 V into a 1 kOhm load.

xxviii. The PID controller shall be a benchtop-type instrument.

xxix. The PID controller and PDH module shall be controllable with USB or TCP/IP interfaces.

4. The PID controller and PDH module shall be operable via a graphical PC user interface (PC GUI).

NOTICE RESPONSE

Interested firms/companies are encouraged to respond to this notice by submitting documentation that clearly demonstrates how the minimum requirements and technical specifications will be met. Response which merely repeat the minimum requirements, and technical specifications without providing demonstration of how the minimum requirements and technical specifications will be met, will not be considered or evaluated by the government. Responses can demonstrate their capabilities to meet the requirements and specifications described above by providing brochures, manuals, reports, demonstration videos, other technical data, and identification of current customers.

In responding to this notice, please DO NOT PROVIDE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION. In addition to the technical documentation, the response must include the following:

· Company name and address

· Point of Contact for questions and/or clarifications, including telephone number and email address

· Teaming partners (if applicable)

· For supplies – If the supply is a commercial off the shelf item, modified commercial off the shelf item, or prototype.

· Any additional information as deemed pertinent by the respondent.

The Government will accept written questions by email to Contract Specialist Ranae Armstrong at ranae.armstrong@nist.gov and Contracting Officer Don Collie at Donald.collie@nist.gov. Questions must be submitted by 02/23/26, 6:00pm, ET to receive a government response. Telephone and faxed inquiries will not be accepted.

Interested responses must be submitted to Contract Specialist Ranae Armstrong at ranae.armstrong@nist.gov and Contracting Officer Don Collie at Donald.collie@nist.gov no later than 02/25/26, 6:00pm, ET. Telephone and faxed responses will not be accepted.