Awarded Invitation To Tender - Supply of Frequency Comb Systems

The combs will be part of future national time scale infrastructure, as well as test and evaluation facilities and services being set up as part of the UK quantum technologies programme. For this reason, they must be able to operate independently and continuously (24/7) with minimal downtime for maintenance.

The purpose is to enable greater flexibility and agility in NPL's frequency measurement and characterisation services, while simultaneously developing the new infrastructure required to support a future redefinition of the second.

The setups need to work in tandem with ultrastable laser systems, optical lattice clocks and fibre networking capability in the AQML to support international collaborations and so must be compatible with these technologies. A full and detailed specification of our requirements for each individual comb is provided in separate lots as outlined in the ITT documents.