Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138-1596

99 -- FIBER OPTICAL INTERFACE FOR ADVANCED FIBER OPTIC ECHELLE SPECTOGRAPH SOL AFA998 DUE 071697 POC Rena Cerbone, TEL. (617)495-7445, FAX (617)495-7485. Pricilla Waltner (617)-495-7401 The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory intends to award on a Sole Source basis, a purchase order to the High Altitude Observatory to refurbish a vendor supplied Queensgate Fabry-Perot Interferometer and to build a fiber-optical interface to allow its use as a spectral reference for the Advanced Fiber Optic Echelle (AFOE) spectrograph at the F.L. Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona. The refurbishment of the instrument will include a new thermal insulation and control system for the interferometer, the addition of a stable laser monitor to control the interferometer plate spacing, and fiber-optic input and output ports. The refurbished unit shall have the capability of introducing regularly spaced absorption features on an incoming beam and keeping those features stable for long periods (months to years) at the 2 meter/sec level. The vendor shall then install and debug the AFOE and demonstrate its performance on test data recorded with the instrument. This is an oral solicitation. Anticipated award date is 07-06-97. (0176)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0387 19970627\99-0001.SOL)