X-band Continuous Wave Electron Spin Resonance Spectrometer– Combined Sources Sought/Notice of Intent to Sole Source

***THIS IS A COMBINED SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE AND NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE***

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking information from sources that may be capable of providing a high speed, Lock-in/Servo system. If no alternate sources are identified, the Government intends to issue a Sole Source Award to Bruker Biospin Corporation; 15 Fortune Drive, Billerica, MA 01821 (UEI: WWMWFMKJLH33) under the authority of FAR 12.102(b) The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334516. 

The Nanoscale Device Characterization Division seeks to acquire a seamlessly integrated, research-grade continuous wave (CW) X-band Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) spectrometer. A primary strategic focus of the division involves utilizing ESR to resolve the chemical and physical nature of atomic-scale defects in materials. This research is critical for identifying and controlling defect entities essential for quantum sensing applications, such as high sensitivity magnetometry.

NIST has a need for a visible range continuous wave tunable laser that meets or exceeds the following draft minimum specifications:

Contract Line Item Number (CLIN): 0001

Description: continuous wave x-band ESR spectrometer

Quantity: One (1)

1. The spectrometer components shall be seamlessly integrated and turnkey.
2. The magnet component shall:
   1. Be of a double yoke design.
   2. Have ten-inch pole faces.
   3. Support L, S, X, and Q band EPR measurements by having a maximum magnetic field strength of at least 14.5 kG with a pole gap greater than 70 mm.
   4. Have a magnetic field uniformity of at least 10 mG over the sample area (approximately 1 cm x 1 cm x 2 cm).
   5. Be fully compatible with the below described microwave resonators, variable temperature equipment, and other accessories.
   6. Be water cooled.
   7. Have a suitable water-cooled matched power supply to allow for the above specifications.
3. The microwave excitation/detection component shall:
   1. Be an x-band continuous wave microwave bridge with a matched reference arm design with variable attenuation and variable phase.
   2. Be seamlessly integrated with other spectrometer components and controllers for frequency, attenuation, reference phase and attenuation settings. All bridge parameters will be software controlled.
   3. Permit manual bridge tuning/matching as well as automatic bridge tuning/matching via software and iris motor compatibility.
   4. Have an absolute sensitivity of at least 1 x 109 spins per 1 G linewidth.
   5. Produce a signal to noise ratio of at least 3000:1 for a weak pitch spin standard.
   6. Have a Gunn diode microwave source.
   7. Have a working frequency of at least 9.2 GHz to 9.9 GHz.
   8. Have a maximum power output of at least 200 mW in a leveled mode.
   9. Contain a built-in frequency counter with 1 kHz resolution.
   10. Contain a built-in power meter.
   11. Contain a microwave attenuator with a range of at least 0 to 60 dB in 1 dB increments with automatic phase correction over the entire range.
   12. Include an automatic frequency control system with a stability of at least 10-8, a dynamic range of at least +/- 6 MHz, and automatic gain control.
   13. Include a high sensitivity continuous wave x-band EPR microwave resonator/cavity compatible with all other mentioned specifications.
       1. The cavity itself shall have an unloaded resonance frequency of about 9.85 GHz, an unloaded Q factor of at least 15000, sample tube access holes of at least 1 cm in diameter, integrated modulation coils supporting modulated magnetic field strengths of at least 20 G, contain a window to support optical illumination of the sample, and be compatible with the variable sample temperature systems described herein.  
   14. Support spin counting without a reference sample.
4. The system shall include an automatic and programmable goniometer for performing EPR measurements as a function of sample orientation in the magnetic field. Angular resolution shall be at least 1 degree.
5. The system shall include a precision gauss(tesla) meter for making precision absolute measure of the magnetic field and shall,
   1. Be based on the nuclear magnetic resonance of protons.
   2. Have an absolute accuracy of 5 milliGauss.
   3. Have a digital resolution of at least 1 milliGauss.
   4. Have a field range of 1.5 kiloGauss to 15 kiloGauss.
   5. Have a robust probe capable of being inserted into the microwave resonator.
   6. Be controllable with the control software.
6. The hardware control component, often known as a console, shall:
   1. Be a self-contained unit which serves to integrate the spectrometer components.
      1. Contain a magnetic field controller suitable to achieve the above described magnet specifications. Additionally, the magnetic field controller shall:
      2. Support magnetic field sweeps over the entire magnet range with resolution up to 256K points.
      3. Be capable of sweep times of at least 400 us to 5 s per point.
      4. Have long term field stability at least +/- 10 mG per hour at a constant room temperature.
7. 1. Contain a signal processing unit with an available digital lock-in mode supporting:
      1. Detection bandwidth of at least 30 MHz.
      2. External trigger in/out connections.
      3. Modulation reference signal out connection.
      4. Modulation frequency of at least 80 Hz to 200 kHz in digital lock in mode or 500 Hz to 120 kHz in hardware lock in mode.
      5. Ability to single or double modulate.
      6. Simultaneous harmonic EPR signal detection up to 5th order.
      7. Simultaneous in and out of phase detection.
      8. User definable digital filters.
8. 1. Support a rapid scan magnetic field mode which permits:
      1. Triangle and saw tooth ramp shapes.
      2. Scan rate up to 200 Hz.
      3. Scan width up to at least 200 G per scan.
      4. Supports both phase sensitive and direct detection.
9. The software component of the spectrometer shall:
   1. Seamlessly control all spectrometer operation.
   2. Be of a graphical user interface
   3. Support all applicable data acquisition modes and experiment parameters of the spectrometer including but not limited to 1D sweeps of field, 1D time monitoring, 2D sweeps of field, delay, power, temperature, and sample angle via the programmable goniometer.
   4. Include a data manipulation and analysis package which includes but is not limited to:
      1. Integration/differentiation, peak locating, spectrum math, spectrum fitting, baseline corrections, and filtering.
      2. Simulation and fitting of EPR spectra.
      3. The ability to determine spin concentration without a reference sample.
10. The spectrometer shall be compatible and seamlessly integrate with existing ESR related infrastructure and spectrometer accessories already in use at NIST that will be leveraged for this work, specifically:
    1. Bruker cryogen free waveguide system, 5K variable temp unit
    2. Bruker ER 4141VT nitrogen variable temperature system
    3. Bruker ER 203UV Irradiation System
    4. Bruker DICE-II electron nuclear double resonance system
    5. Microwave resonators and associated hardware including
       1. Bruker ER 4102ST TE102 mode resonator
       2. Bruker ER 4105DR TE104 mode resonator
       3. Bruker ER 4114HT TE011 high temperature resonator and power booster
       4. Bruker ER 4123D high-q resonator
       5. Bruker EN801 electron nuclear double resonance resonator
11. The heat exchanger component of the spectrometer shall be of sufficient capacity to support the heat load of all other spectrometer systems. It shall contain two loops; the first is a closed loop containing all spectrometer components. The second loop will connect to NIST supplied facility process chilled water.

NIST conducted market research from April 2026 to May 2026 by speaking with colleagues, performing internet searches, and speaking with vendors to determine what sources could meet NIST’s minimum requirements to include compatibility with existing equipment.  The results of that market research revealed that only Bruker Biospin Corp (UEI: WWMWFMKJLH33) appears to be capable of meeting NIST’s requirements.

HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE

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• Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company’s Unique Entity ID (UEI).
• Details about what your company is capable of providing that meets or exceeds NIST’s minimum requirements.
• Whether your company is an authorized reseller of the product or service being cited and evidence of such authorization.
• Identify any aspects of the description of the requirements in the BACKGROUND section above that could be viewed as unduly restrictive or create unnecessary barriers that adversely affect your firm’s ability to fully participate in a procurement for such services and explain why.  Please offer suggestions for how the requirements could be organized or structured to encourage the participation of small businesses.
• For the NAICS code
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• If you believe the NAICS code listed in this notice is not the best NAICS code for the type of product addressed in this notice, identify an alternative NAICS code that you believe would be more appropriate for the planned procurement. 
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• Describe your firm’s experience (as a prime, subcontractor, or consultant) providing the products or services described in Background section.
• Provide any other information that you believe would be valuable for the Government to know as part of its market research for this requirement.
• Please let us know if you would like to engage to get a better understanding of the requirement or need additional information about the Government’s requirement for the products or services described in the Background section. 

QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE

Questions regarding this notice may be submitted via email to the Primary Point of Contact and the Secondary Point of Contact listed in this notice. Questions should be submitted so that they are received within 5 days of the initial posting.  Questions will be anonymized and answered via sources sought notice amendment following the question submission deadline.

IMPORTANT NOTES

The information received in response to this notice will be reviewed and considered so that the NIST may appropriately solicit for its requirements in the near future. 

This notice should not be construed as a commitment by the NIST to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. 

This notice is not a request for a quotation. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotations.

No award will be made as a result of this notice. 

NIST is not responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice.

NIST reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and appropriate.

Thank you for taking the time to submit a response to this request!