Improvements in the NIST Johnson Noise Thermometry System

Published

April 1, 2009

Author(s)

Samuel P. Benz, Jifeng Qu, Horst Rogalla, D. R. White, Paul D. Dresselhaus, Weston L. Tew, Sae Woo Nam

Abstract

We have developed a Johnson noise thermometry (JNT) system that is calibrated by precision waveforms synthesized with a quantized voltage noise source (QVNS). Significant improvements to the QVNS and the cross-correlation measurement electronics have dramatically reduced systematic errors and measurement uncertainty. We describe in detail a number of these improvements, such as amplifier performance and frequency response. We also show details of recent measurements that characterize the nonlinearities and distortion properties of the measurement electronics. Finally, we present an uncertainty analysis and discuss the potential for the QVNS-JNT technique to contribute to the redefinition of the Boltzmann constant.

Citation

IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement

Volume

58

Issue

4

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

Noise, Correlation, Digital-analog conversion, Josephson arrays, Quantization, Signal synthesis, Standards, Superconductor-normal-superconductor devices, Johnson Noise, Boltzmann equation, Temperature, Measurement units.

Citation

Benz, S. , Qu, J. , Rogalla, H. , White, D. , Dresselhaus, P. , Tew, W. and Nam, S. (2009), Improvements in the NIST Johnson Noise Thermometry System, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=33058 (Accessed October 7, 2025)