Upgrade of the Cold Neutron Imaging Instrument, Phase Grating Roll Alignment System

1 | P a g e STATEMENT OF WORK/SPECIFICATIONS Title: Upgrade of the Cold Neutron Imaging Instrument, Phase Grating Roll Alignment System Date: 9 JUN 2026 I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 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. The overall grating alignment system requires translating the gratings in the vertical direction, requiring that the grating roll stages (which much also translate) be less than 1 kg in mass. II. PURPOSE This procurement is to obtain quantity 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. Delivery Date 01 DEC 2026. III. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATIONS The rotation stage shall have an angular position resolution at least or better than 0.00001 degrees (lower is better). 1. The rotation stage shall have a central clear aperture at least 80 mm in diameter (larger is better). 2. The rotation stage shall have a mass less than 1 kg (less is better). 3. The rotation stage shall be able to rotate a full 360 degrees (continuous rotation is better). 4. The rotation stage shall have a minimum rotation speed of greater than 3 degrees per second 5. 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). 6. The rotation stage movement mechanism shall have 0 backlash and maintain position in the event of unplanned loss of electrical power. Mandatory powered-off position holding. 7. Vendor to provide all required sensors and control hardware and software to achieve the specified minimum resolution 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. -- 1 of 3 -- 2 | P a g e 8. Vendor to provide cables with lengths of 10 meters to allow the control box to be located outside a radiation area. 9. Optional: Hand control unit with cable to permit manual operation of the rotation stages during initial alignment performed with visible light. IV. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Inspection & Acceptance In addition to the inspection and acceptance terms articulated in the specific FAR clause that allows the Government reserves the right to perform such performance tests and evaluations as defined below to verify specified system performance. Such tests and evaluations, if performed, shall be conducted within the environment that the system is to be operated. The Contractor has the right to be present during the tests and evaluations, if performed, at the Contractor’s expense. NIST may choose at its discretion to forego this part of acceptance testing. A visual inspection of the equipment will be performed by the NIST POC to identify surface defects or any form of indication that any equipment was damaged during transport to NIST. The Government shall have sole discretion to require repair or replacement of damaged and/or nonconforming supplies at no cost to the Government. The Government at any time prior to acceptance shall reject the equipment due to defects and/or nonconformance. The vendor is responsible for latent defects discovered any time after final inspection. However, the extent of its liability shall be prorated over the useful life of the equipment. Ownership of the equipment shall transfer to NIST upon acceptance by the Government. The Government will test, inspect, and accept or reject the equipment within 15 days of receipt of the equipment unless otherwise indicated above. The Government reserves the right to conduct quality assurance testing to confirm that a given instrument(s) meets the manufacturer’s and/or the Government’s performance specifications. It is anticipated that the equipment will meet all manufacturer’s specifications and/or the Government’s performance specifications identified in the most recent operations and maintenance manual for each piece of equipment and/or in this document. V. SCHEDULE OF DELIVERABLES Deliverable Number Description Format Due Date Quantity 1 Phase grating roll alignment stages Provide the required format for the deliverable. For example, word, AutoCAD, Excel, PPT 31 DEC 2026 3 -- 2 of 3 -- 3 | P a g e 2 Motion sensors, motion control hardware, to control alignment stages Sensors and controller to permit better than 0.00001 angular position resolution 31 DEC 2026 2 3 Sets of cables between stages, sensor, controllers Cables are 10 m 31 DEC 2026 3 4 Motion control software SDK based in C/C++/C# or .NET 31 DEC 2026 1 5 (Optional) Hand control unit with cable to permit manual operation of the rotation stages during initial alignment performed with visible light. 31 DEC 2026 1 Standards of Acceptance: The NIST POC or COR shall review all the above deliverables and respond with an acceptance or request for revision email to the Co…