SOLICITATION NOTICE
66 -- Request for Information - Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope High Precision Polarizers
- Notice Date
- 10/23/2015
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 333314
— Optical Instrument and Lens Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- National Science Foundation, Division of Acquisition and Cooperative Support, DACS, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Room475, Arlington, Virginia, 22230
- ZIP Code
- 22230
- Solicitation Number
- WFC-010
- Archive Date
- 11/21/2015
- Point of Contact
- Harvey S. Bass, Phone: 520/318-8445
- E-Mail Address
-
hbass@aura-astronomy.org
(hbass@aura-astronomy.org)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Announcement of Opportunity No. WFC-010 Request for Information on High Precision Polarizers The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA), on behalf of the National Solar Observatory, is soliciting Information from qualified contractors regarding large diameter high precision polarizers for use at the Gregorian focus of the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), a 4m off-axis telescope currently under construction on Maui, HI. The telescope concentrates solar light and feeds an f/13 focus with up to a 5 arcminute field of view beam after a heat stop aperture. The desired polarizer would be used near this Gregorian focus in a beam with a ~3 Watts per square centimeter flux (solar spectrum) for some minutes or longer for calibration of a suite of visible and IR instrumentation. AURA is interested in a >110mm circular clear aperture polarizer with high contrast, high transmission, low WFE components to work with visible and near-infrared instrumentation in the 380nm to 5000nm wavelength range. AURA understands that the wide wavelength range, high contrast goals and large part diameters present unique design and fabrication challenges. Some performance goals may or may not be met with any single optical component or substrate and that several substrates (fused silica, infrasil, sapphire, silicon, etc.), manufacturing processes and techniques may be required and requests information on a polarizer that may meet several (or all) of the possible criteria described in the attached Technical Data Sheet. AURA requests information on wire grid polarizers, polarizer substrates and / or alternative solutions to creating an optic. Firms interested in submitting Information Packages should send a letter of interest on firm letterhead referencing the Announcement of Opportunity No. WFC-010 and include physical mailing address, telephone number, fax number, and email address (if available) for a contact person and address the questions below. (Response Format: 50 page max, single sided, double spaced, 12 point type min) Submissions shall be sent via email to the Contracts Officer, at: hbass@aura-astronomy.org, not later than Friday, November, 6, 2015. Responses Requested: 1) What specifications (suggested or generated by your own team) do you think you can achieve for what cost? If a range of options are possible, please outline costs and performance for the various solutions. 2) What is your plan to verify performance once you build the part? 3) What is your corporate heritage in delivering large custom optics similar to our requested polarizers? Have you successfully done similar projects? 4) What are the cost drivers for your proposed solution? 5) What are the risk factors (for various options) in your proposed solution? 6) What is the largest clear aperture available and expected uniformity? 7) What kind of operating environment can be tolerated? 8) What polarization contrast ratio can you guarantee? 9) Is an AR coating on the substrate possible to reduce absorption, fringing and scattered light? 10) Are there any expected changes due to exposure to high flux beam over the lifetime of the polarizer? 11) Please provide scratch/dig, beam deviation, uniformity, WFE, transmission, etc. If you have any questions, please contact the Contracts Officer at (520) 318-8445 or via the above email. All inquiries and their responses will be posted on the DKIST public webpage. NOTE: THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR BIDS. AURA IS SEEKING INFORMATION ONLY AT THIS TIME. REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS MAY BE ISSUED AT A LATER DATE. Technical Data Sheet Note: These are AURA's desired specifications but is open to alternatives. 1) Opto-mechanical Requirements: Optic outer diameter maximum120mm with a similar clear aperture (goal >110mm). (Identify significant performance enhancements or cost breaks if smaller clear apertures are suggested. Stable operation in a beam of ~3 Watts per square centimeter incident flux (solar spectrum) for as long as possible (goal >10 minutes). 2) Operating environment: Sea level to 10,000 feet MSL, operation at Haleakala summit. Operation in 3% to 95% relative humidity, non-condensing. 3) Possible specifications of interest: Polarizing contrast ratio: Contrast ratio (when crossed) as high as possible Extinction ratio averaged over clear aperture over wavelengths of interest and field of view (goal >300). 4) Angle of Incidence & Field of View: Beam from telescope is converging ~f/13 with a FOV up to 5 arcminutes. Field of view is at least 3 arcminutes with performance goal of 5 arc minutes. 5) Wavelength Range: Wide coverage across Visible, Near-UV and IR to 5 microns desired. Nominal wavelength range 380nm to 5000nm as a goal using one or more substrates / optics. 6) Absorptivity & Temperature Stability: Maintain stable performance under 3 W/cm^2 (solar spectrum) for as long as possible High flux beam likely implies low absorptivity and highly reflective polarizing technique (non-absorbing). 7) Transmission: High transmission over the wavelength range(100% linearly polarized input aligned with transmission axis of polarizer) Goal of >=75% 8) TWE Flatness: Goal of <=3 waves P-V at 633nm, only tip/tilt removed. (Possible to separate power (spherical Zernike WFE term) from other higher order terms if this drives cost or manufacturability). 9) Reflected beam WFE: WF Flatness and error terms not critical, but reflected beam should not be focused or strongly diverged to allow for mitigating the heat in the reflected beam. 10) Uniformity across the aperture: Uniform performance in an f/13 converging beam is desired. Typical beam footprint is <30mm for zero field. We understand there may be performance trades at smaller clear-aperture diameters. Outline a solution at smaller apertures if a significant performance gain or cost reduction is identified. 11) Optical quality: Scratch/dig on the optical surfaces or a similar surface quality metric (low scattered light desired, and impact on polarization contrast ratio. Goal: 60/40 or better) Wedge specification (what wedge with what accuracy? Parallelism in substrate(s) has Impact on fringing and beam deviation when optics is rotated) Beam deviation when the optic is rotated (when well centered in a rotating mount. The wedge and substrate thickness has impact) 12) Fringing (Coherent interference from multiple internal reflection): Spectral fringes (multiple internal reflections) should be minimized (single substrate, AR coated?) Impact on wedge, anti-reflection coatings, substrate thickness, protective cover materials or coatings? Typical "window-like" substrates with mild wedge and good optical quality likely would be sufficient 13) Mechanical considerations: Non-brittle? Hardness? Scratch protection? Survives fast rotation in a stage (acceleration power spectrum?) Survives basic seismic activity (another basic acceleration power spectrum?
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FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/NSF/DACS/DACS/WFC-010/listing.html)
- Record
- SN03928770-W 20151025/151023233743-77f1ebee5a25fe07fc6dac16e745d80e (fbodaily.com)
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