Photon Detection System

This is a Notice of Proposed Contract Action under the FAR Part 12 Acquisition of Commercial Products and Commercial Services and FAR Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures. This notice is for information only; a solicitation will not be issued. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTATION. No contract will be awarded on the basis of offers received in response to this notice. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 334516 – (Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing) with a small business size standard of 1,000 employees.

The Government requires procurement of a Photon Detection System, and intends to negotiate a sole-source award for this requirement with Single Quantum USA Inc., 800 Bayshore Road, Knoxville, TN, 37934, who represents itself as the exclusive provider of the required Single Quantum BV branded products in the United States.  The applicable Single Quantum BV part numbers and associated descriptions are as follows:

Qty. 1 - Single Quantum Eos R12 

• Closed-cycle rack mount compact cryostat for up to 12 detector channels with rack mount compact Iglu He compressor with standard 6 meters Helium Line
• Retina- 12-channel modular electronic driver providing computer controllable bias current; voltage pulse amplification; real-time photon counting; automated unlatching.
• Single Quantum software- Browser-based interface to provide fully computer-controlled operation.

Qty 4 – Detectors

• Ch. 1 – 4
• SSPD-1310-85
• Fiber-coupled SNSPD
• 85% - 90% SDE at 1310 nm
• DCR: =100 Cps
• TJ: 40 ps
• MCR: > 5 Mcps

Qty. 8 - Detectors:

• Ch. 5 – 12
• SSPD-1550-85
• Fiber-coupled SNSPD
• 85% - 90% SDE at 1550 nm
• DCR: =100 Cps
• TJ: 40 ps
• MCR: > 5 Mcps

Qty. 6 – LTJ- Low Timing Jitter Solution:

• Ch. 1  - 2 - LTJ-Low Timing Jitter Solution
• Ch. 5  - 8 - Low timing jitter solution, TJ: <20 ps

Qty. 1 - Vacuum Pump- VAC

• Pfeiffer HighCube 80 vacuum pump

Qty. 6 – GAT

• Ch. 3 – 4 - Gating Solution
• Ch. 8 – 12 - Gate speed recovery: > 90% recovery, in < 500 ns

Qty. 1 - Packaging and shipping

Qty. 1 - Remote installation and training (incl. long-term remote support & training)

Qty. 1 - UID label

The Government has determined that other companies’ products do not meet or cannot be modified to meet the Government’s needs.  Single Quantum is the only known commercial vendor capable of offering a photon detection system which meets the Government’s following requirements:

- Detection efficiency of 85-90%

- Dead times of < 30 ns

- Maximum count rates of 5 Mcps (5 million counts per second)

- Dark count rates of < 100 Cps (counts per second)

- Timing jitter of 40 ps or below (20 ps or below with low timing jitter upgrade)

- Time-gating capability (an upgrade that will allow temporal filtering for e.g. the integration of free-space quantum links)

Furthermore, the Government currently owns and is actively using similar Single Quantum branded photon detectors that this new photon detector will need to work with.  Acquiring a consistent brand photon detector will ensure uniformity and compatibility within the measurement infrastructure, reducing the time personnel need to familiarize themselves with a new system and develop control code.

Finally, Single Quantum branded hardware is included in the libraries of Aliro Simulator and Orchestrator software, which is the network simulation and control software RITQ intends to use within its local area networks.  Additionally, the Single Quantum branded photon detector is the preferred detector for use with Swabian Instruments branded time-to-digital converters, which the Government owns multiple of and intends to use in conjunction with the required photon detector.

Considering the above, and also given that Single Quantum USA Inc. represents itself as the exclusive provider of the required Single Quantum BV branded products in the United States, a sole-source award to Single Quantum USA Inc. is contemplated, as aforementioned.

This is a notice of proposed contract action and not a request for competitive proposals; however, all responsible sources may submit a capability statement or proposal, which shall be considered by the agency. All inquiries should be sent by email to jennifer.calandra@us.af.mil. Responses must be submitted by the date/time listed on the notice. Any response to this notice must show clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government in future procurements.

Responses received will be evaluated; however, a determination by the Government not to compete the proposed procurement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The Government anticipates an award date on or before 15 September 2024.

A Sole Source Justification will be attached to the subsequent Notice of Award in accordance with applicable regulation.