SOLICITATION NOTICE
58 -- Sodium Laser System for use with Astronomical Adaptive Optics
- Notice Date
- 10/15/2003
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- National Science Foundation, Division of Acquisition and Cost Support, DACS, 4201 Wilson Boulevard Room 475, Arlington, VA, 22230
- ZIP Code
- 22230
- Solicitation Number
- Multiple
- Response Due
- 10/31/2003
- Archive Date
- 11/15/2003
- Point of Contact
- Bradley Poston, Chief, Contracts Branch, Phone (703) 292-4568, Fax (703) 292-9140/9141,
- E-Mail Address
-
bposton@nsf.gov
- Description
- Within the next few months the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. ("AURA") is planning to release three Requests For Proposals (RFPs). This announcement covers all three RFPs so that Vendors can plan and coordinate their response(s) to one or more RFPs. (1) RFP No. N231397 to be released early November 2003, will seek qualified vendors and research institutes to perform research and development programs to develop and/or demonstrate key components of laser technologies appropriate for astronomical laser guide star adaptive optics. (2) RFP No. N231398 to be released early January 2004, will seek a qualified vendor to develop and provide a laser system to be used as part of an adaptive optics (AO) system for the Keck I telescope of the Keck Observatory, a 10 meter optical/infrared telescope located on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. (3) RFP No. N231399 to be released late February 2004, will seek a qualified vendor to develop and provide a laser system to be used as part of a multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) system for the Gemini South Observatory, an 8 meter optical/infrared telescope located on the summit of Cerro Pach?n, Chile. In advance of releasing the second and third RFPS AURA will be seeking comments from potential vendors on the proposed requirements for the Keck I and Gemini South Laser Systems. All three RFPs are concerned with sodium laser systems for use with laser guide star adaptive optics (LGS AO) in astronomy. Adaptive optics (AO) systems remove distortions caused by atmospheric turbulence by making corrections to the incoming wavefront using one or multiple light sources as references. These reference sources can be bright stars, or artificial light sources created by shooting one or multiple lasers at the sky. In particular, 589nm lasers can be used to excite mesospheric sodium atoms located 90 kilometers above the ground. Laser systems used for sodium LGS AO must be precisely tuned to the sodium D2 line near 589nm and be unusually powerful for lasers at this wavelength. Depending on the application and site, the output power requirements for sodium lasers on existing 4-10m telescopes range between 10-20W for use with single-LGS conventional adaptive optics systems to more than 50W for use with five-LGS Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) systems (power and pulse format requirements for proposed 30-100m telescopes are discussed in the full text version of this announcement). The sodium D2 line comprises two absorption peaks, D2a (the stronger of the two) and D2b, separated by 1.77GHz, and the line is Doppler-broadened to a total width of 3 GHz. Lasers should ideally be tuned to the D2a absorption line, and their bandwidth should not exceed 3GHz in any case. The three RFPs will be administered for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Astronomy Division by AURA through the Gemini Observatory. The first and second RFPs will be administered in partnership with the Keck Observatory, Center for Adaptive Optics (CfAO) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), in accordance with the objectives set forth in a Gemini/Keck/CfAO/AFRL joint proposal to the National Science Foundation submitted in November 2000. This is an extremely abridged version of this announcement of opportunity. Interested parties should download the full text at http://ftp.gemini.edu/Groups/AO/Announcements or contact Andy Flach (Tel: 520-318-8410; Fax: 520-318-8590; email: aflach@gemini.edu) to receive the full announcement of opportunity by email or fax.
- Record
- SN00452801-W 20031017/031016073429 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
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