Squeezed Light Generation System

This is a Notice of Proposed Contract Action under 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 334413 (Semiconductor and Related Device Manufacturing) with a small business size standard of 1,250 employees.

The Government requires procurement of a Squeezed Light Generation System, and intends to negotiate a sole-source award for this requirement with Noisy Labs GmbH, Luruper Hauptstrasse 1, DE-22547 Hamburg/Germany. Relevant Noisy Labs parts and associated descriptions are as follows:

• Item 1, qty. 1 each - Pump Laser Integration at 1550 nm

  • 1500 nm CW pump laser

• Item 2, qty. 1 each - Squeeze Laser at 1550 nm

  • Continuous wave squeeze laser with up to 10 dB squeezed vacuum output at 1550 nm in a spatial TEM00 mode
  • Integrated second-harmonic generation
  • FC/APC pump laser input connector
  • Control electronics integrated in 19” rack

• Item 3, qty 1 each - Coherent Control Locking Scheme

  • Locking scheme for phase stabilization of the pump and local oscillator phase with a 40 MHz sideband to enable low frequency squeezing in the kHz regime

• Item 4, qty. 1 each - High Quantum Efficiency Balanced Detector at 1550 nm

  • Balanced detection system optimized for the detection of squeezed light with two high quantum efficiency photo diodes.
  • Dark noise clearance: 20 dB from 1 MHz to 8 MHz with 20 mW of local oscillator power
  • Quantum efficiency >95% at 1550nm (by design >99%)
  • Demodulation input and output with customized demodulation frequency for lock implementation

• Item 5, qty. 1 each - On-Site Installation Service

  • Installation of equipment, customer briefing regarding the operation of the system and hand-over of documentation

• Item 6, qty 1 each - Field Evaluation Service

  • Field evaluation to ensure compliance with US Standards

The Government has determined that other companies’ products and services do not meet or cannot be modified to meet the Government's needs. Noisy Labs is the only known vendor that commercially offers a squeezed light source that is capable of achieving 10 dB of squeezing, which is a specification critical to the research currently being performed.  Moreover, the Noisy Labs’ squeezed light source operates at 1550 nm, which is the particular wavelength of interest, rendering it a comprehensive, turn-key system that will allow researchers to focus on quantum sensing demonstrations in a fielded quantum network.  Interchanges with Noisy Labs have yielded that they do not maintain a network of resellers for their products and are the sole-source provider.  For the aforementioned reasons, the Government has determined Noisy Labs to be the sole-source provider of the required Squeezed Light Generation System, and intends to make a sole-source award to them, accordingly.

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 leenawattie.budhu.1@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 31 August 2025.

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