Cell-based refractometer for pascal realization

Published

July 24, 2017

Author(s)

Patrick F. Egan, Jack A. Stone Jr., Jacob E. Ricker, Jay H. Hendricks, Gregory F. Strouse

Abstract

We describe a method for determining density of helium via measurements of optical refractivity. In combination with the equation of state, this allows realization of the pascal. Our apparatus is based on the integration of a gas triple-cell into a quasi-monolithic heterodyne interferometer: the stability of the interferometer is +/- 50 pm over 10 h. We claim the contribution of cell window thinning to pathlength uncertainty can be canceled within an uncertainty of 0.37 fm/Pa per window pass, which for our 25 cm cell length corresponds to a fractional error of 9.3 x 10^-6 in the measure of helium refractivity. We report the ratio (n-1)_N2 / (n-1)_He = 8.570354(13) at p = 367.420(4) kPa, T = 293.1529(13) K and λ = 632.9908(6) nm, which can be used to calibrate less accurate refractometers. By measuring helium refractivity at a pressure realized by a piston gage, we determined the Boltzmann constant with standard uncertainty k_B = 1.380652(17) x 10^-23 JK^-1.

Citation

Optics Letters

Volume

42

Issue

15

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.42.002944

Keywords

atomic and molecular physics, interferometry, pressure measurement

Citation

Egan, P. , Stone, J. , Ricker, J. , Hendricks, J. and Strouse, G. (2017), Cell-based refractometer for pascal realization, Optics Letters, [online], https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.42.002944 (Accessed December 13, 2024)