Reduced Nonlinearity Effect on the Electronic Measurement of the Boltzmann Constant

Published

January 10, 2011

Author(s)

Jifeng Qu, Samuel Benz, Alessio Pollarolo, Horst Rogalla

Abstract

NIST has developed a quantum voltage noise source (QVNS) calibrated Johnson noise thermometer (JNT) to provide a new electronic measurement technique for determining the Boltzmann constant. Improvements in electronics and synthesized noise waveforms have lead to reduced uncertainty in the measurement. Recent investigations show that some of the distortion in the present electronics arises in the differential stage of both the preamplifier and the analog-digital converter (ADC). The distortion can be reduced by compensating the DC offset of the signal at the inputs to the differential stage. A four-channel cross-correlation JNT with optimized preamplifiers and new ADCs is being assembled. The improvements are on track to reach the goal of an electronic measurement of the Boltzmann constant at a relative uncertainty of 6×10^-6.

Citation

IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement

Volume

60

Issue

7

Pub Type

Journals

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Local Download

Keywords

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

Citation

Qu, J. , Benz, S. , Pollarolo, A. and Rogalla, H. (2011), Reduced Nonlinearity Effect on the Electronic Measurement of the Boltzmann Constant, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=905951 (Accessed September 15, 2024)