NOTICE OF INTENT-Sapphire Mirror Substrates

NOTICE OF INTENT

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Acquisition Management Division intends to negotiate with Coastline Optics located in Camarillo, CA on a sole source basis under the authority of FAR Subpart 13.106-1(b), soliciting from a single source, for four (4) Custom Sapphire Optical Substrates. These mirror substrates will be used in a high-finesse optical cavity.

Specific Requirements are as follows:

 Item 1: Custom Sapphire Optical Substrates

4 each.

Material: C-axis optical-grade sapphire  

OD: 2” +0/-0.01”, edge bevel 0.02”-0.04” @ 45 deg.

Side 1:

1 M concave radius of curvature

Surface: < 10-5 scratch dig (0-0 in the central 10 mm area), < 1 Å rms roughness, < λ /10 flatness @ 633 nm

Flat annular area between 40 mm diameter and the substrate OD with surface quality and flatness suitable for optical contact

Side 2:

Flat, wedge: 0.5 deg

Surface: <10-5 scratch dig, < 1 angstrom RMS roughness, < λ /10 flatness @ 633 nm

Coating: IBS AR coating, R < 0.05% @ 1069 nm @ 0 deg. angle of incidence

This shall be provided and accomplished in accordance with these specifications.

NAICS Code is 333314 – Optical Instrument & Lens Manufacturing, with a Size Standard of 500 employees. NIST anticipates negotiating and awarding a firm-fixed-price purchase order to Coastline Optics for this requirement.

Interested parties that can demonstrate they could satisfy the requirement listed above for NIST must clearly and unambiguously identify their capability to do so in writing on or before the response date for this notice. This notice of intent is not a solicitation. Information submitted in response to this notice will be used solely to determine whether competitive procedures could be used for this acquisition. If competitive procedures are not used it is estimated that an award will be issued 4th Quarter of FY22. Any questions regarding this notice must be submitted in writing via email to angela.hitt@nist.gov. All responses to this notice of intent must be submitted to angela.hitt@nist.gov no later than the date and time provided herein this posting.

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AN OPEN COMPETITION:

Market research resulted in Coastline Optics being the only vendor that can manufacture custom sapphire mirror substrates to meet the demanding requirements of NIST’s application. These mirror substrates will be used in a high-finesse optical cavity, which requires that the surfaces be polished to a very high specification to minimize the impact from defects on the performance of the cavity. The mechanical dimensions of the substrates are important to match tooling for the mirror coating and to minimize the effect of vibrations on the cavity frequency. The surface quality and surface figure are both important for minimizing scatter losses in the mirror surfaces and for enabling optical contacting of the substrates to the cavity spacer. These specifications are critical for the performance of the cavity, and if not met, would halt progress on the aluminum-ion optical clock project.