ESA Open Invitation To Tenderc AO8150
Open Date: 13/02/2015
Closing Date: 27/03/2015

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 14.129.16
Prog. Ref.: EOEP-4 Instr.Pre.Dev;TRP
Budget Ref.: E/0091-E4 – EOEP-4 Instr.Pre.Dev;E/0901-01 – TRP
Special Prov.: B+DK+F+D+I+NL+E+S+CH+GB+IRL+A+N+FIN+POR+GR+LUX+CZ+RO+PL+CDN
Tender Type: C
Price Range: > 500 KEURO
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate of Technical & Quality Manag
Department: Mechanical Engineering Department
Division: Mechatronics and Optics Division
Contract Officer: Almeida, Rudolfo
Last Update Date: 13/02/2015
Update Reason: Tender issue

The objective of this activity is to develop an optical frequency comb centred at the 2 micron region with a wide flat-topped spectral coverage using fiber Supercontinuum-based techniques. This shall achieve good re-configuration flexibility and enabling an adaptation of the central wavelength to the specific application. Prior investigations in spectral broadening of high-rep-rate temporal pulse trains from actively mode-locked lasers or electro-optic frequency comb generator showed a high degree of flatness with broad bandwidth when specific pulse profile pulses are launched into an HNLF, operating in the normal dispersion regime. The temporal profile emerging from such a supercontinuum based comb can be used as a seed to achieve an ultra-broad optical spectrum (> 3.64-THz or 28-nm) with excellent flatness and a high-degree of coherence. Nonlinear broadening techniques based on fiber based optical frequency combs generally do not provide the required flatness over the entire available bandwidth. Ultra-broadband flat-topped optical frequency comb within low power variation covering the entire band of interest is a desirable feature to achieve good re-configuration flexibility and high coherence. The key enabling point is the development of a directly generated Gaussian comb-based high rep rate pulse train to seed a highly nonlinear fiber with normal dispersion profile. The combination of the temporal characteristics of the pulses with the nonlinear device achieves the desired smooth flat-topped comb spectral envelope. Procurement Policy: C(1) = Activity restricted to non-prime contractors (incl. SMEs). For additional information please go to EMITS news “Industrial Policy measures fornon-primes, SMEs and R&D entities in ESA programmes”.

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