Notice of Intent to Sole Source: Toptica Photonics Tunable Lasers

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Contract Opportunity

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Acquisition Management Division, intends to negotiate with Toptica Photonics (Entity ID EYC4JKCBA7J9), located in Pittsford, NY, on a sole source basis under the authority of FAR Subpart 13.106-1(b), soliciting from a single source to purchase two lasers with tunable wavelength over a wide range, where their respective ranges overlap by a specified amount.

NIST has developed custom-designed software for the Toptica lasers that is not compatible with other lasers. Working with lasers other than those from Toptica would require a large undertaking (in both time and money) by the government. Buying the exact same lasers allows NIST to swap them between experiments as needed, without any additional modifications, in the case of failure or to provide greater confidence in measurements by performing measurements with multiple independent systems. Swapping laser providers would set work back by at least 6 months.

The tunable lasers must have a mode-hop free range that is at least 100 nm wide. The tunable laser must include the power and control electronics for locking the laser to an optical resonator. Specifically, the control electronics must include proportion-integral-derivative (PID) controllers and algorithms for locking to the top and side of an optical resonance. The controller must have an interactive screen for selecting operational modes, setting parameters, visualizing optical resonances of an optically interrogated cavity as the laser tunes, and selecting resonances for locking. The controller must be fully digital with 24 bit inputs for the best control resolution. The laser must also include a single mode fiber coupled output. The laser wavelength must be tunable using a coarse motion stage, a piezoelectric motion stage, and the laser diode current. These tuning methods must be able to operate simultaneously. The laser and power and control electronics must meet or exceed the following specifications:

1. Mode-Hop Free Wavelength Range:

a. Laser 1 - at least 100 nm wide and centered at 1550 nm

b. Laser 2 - at least 100 nm wide and centered at 1500 nm

Note: The following specifications apply to both lasers, Laser 1 and Laser 2.

2. Nominal power: at least 25 mW across wavelength range

3. Typical linewidth:

4. Beam polarization: Linear > 100:1

5. Fiber coupling efficiency: > 50%

6. Optical isolation efficiency: > 60 dB

7. Optical isolator transmission: > 70%

8. Piezo optical frequency scan range: at least 30 GHz

9. Maximum wavelength scan speed: > 8 nm/s

10. Smallest possible change in laser frequency:

11. PID controller bandwidth: > 25 kHz

12. Modulation frequency for resonance locking: Up to 150 kHz

The NAICS Code is 334516, Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, with a small business standard of 1,000 employees. NIST anticipates negotiating and awarding a firm-fixed-price contract to Toptica Photonics 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 in the fourth quarter fiscal year 2023.

Any questions regarding this notice must be submitted in writing via email to ian.robinson@nist.gov. All responses to this notice of intent must be submitted to ian.robinson@nist.gov no later than June 20, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. EST.

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