Upgrade of the Cold Neutron Imaging Instrument, Phase Grating Roll Alignment Systemview on SAM.gov

***THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE*** BACKGROUND The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking information from sources that may be capable of providing three high precision rotation stages (resolution better than 0.00005 degrees) with a clear aperture to allow the beam to pass unattenuated and required cabling, control hardware, and control software under the authority of FAR 12. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334516 Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing. The NIST neutron imaging team, in the Radiation Physics Division of the Physical Measurement Laboratory, is developing a far-field grating neutron interferometer to measure the projection of the pair correlation function, G(Z), of a sample of interest. This interferometer geometry requires precision alignment of 3 gratings about the roll direction of the neutron beam. Since G(Z) is a vector quantity, aligned perpendicular to the grating direction, the grating alignment stages need to be able to rotate a full 360°, with high resolution. The gratings are lines etched into silicon wafers, where the period of the lines is of order 1 micrometer and the wafers are 100 mm in diameter. The mass of a grating, including a holder is of order 100 g. The interferometer pattern is measured by translating one of the gratings, so that that mass of the alignment system must be kept to as low as achievable. For control hardware, the separation of two of the gratings along the beam ranges from 1 mm to 300 mm. The third grating is separated by up to 5 m. Specifications for three high precision rotation stages (resolution better than 0.00005 degrees) with a clear aperture to allow the beam to pass unattenuated and required cabling, control hardware, and control software. The rotation stage shall have an angular position resolution less than 0.00001 degrees (lower is better). The rotation stage shall have a central clear aperture at least 80 mm in diameter (larger is better). The rotation stage shall have a mass less than 1 kg (less is better). The rotation stage shall be able to rotate a full 360 degrees (continuous rotation is better). The rotation stage shall have a minimum rotation speed of greater than 3 degrees per second The rotation stage shall maintain resolution when mounted and operated such that the rotation axis is perpendicular to the vertical direction (perpendicular to gravity) and supporting a mass of 150 g (supporting a larger mass is better). The rotation stage movement mechanism shall have 0 backlash and maintain position in the event of unplanned loss of electrical power. Vendor to provide all required sensors and control hardware and software to achieve the specified minimum resolution in Task 1 such that two rotation will separated at a maximum of 0.3 m and the third rotation stage will be 5 m from the other 2 stages. Vendor to provide cables with lengths of 10 meters to allow the control box to…