The New Cryogenic Vacuum Chamber and Blackbody Source for Infrared Calibrations at NIST's FARCAL Facility

Published

January 1, 1998

Author(s)

J B. Fowler, Bettye C. Johnson, Joseph P. Rice, Steven R. Lorentz

Abstract

The Facility for Advanced Radiometric Calibrations [FARCAL] at the National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST] in Gaithersburg, MD currently comprises the Medium Background Infrared [MBIR] facility and the Training for Calibration Expertise in Radiometry [TraCER]; the latter being a classroom setting. The MBIR is a 120 cm by 180 cm vacuum chamber with an internal cold shroud and an integral roll-out table. The chamber will contain a blackbody source and an absolute cryogenic radiometer [ACR]. Both components are mounted on the roll-out table. Measurements will be performed in the MBIR facility that cannot be accomplished using existing facilities, including the NIST Low Background Infrared [LBIR] facility and the room-temperature non-vacuum radiometric facilities. Initially the MBIR facility will be used for 80 K medium background measurements and 300 K ambient background measurements.

Citation

Metrologia

Volume

35

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

blackbody, calibration, cryogenic, infrared, low-background, radiometry, vacuum

Citation

Fowler, J. , Johnson, B. , Rice, J. and Lorentz, S. (1998), The New Cryogenic Vacuum Chamber and Blackbody Source for Infrared Calibrations at NIST's FARCAL Facility, Metrologia (Accessed October 9, 2025)