Authors: Jost Engert Jörn Beyer Dietmar Drung Alexander Kirste Margret Peters
Publish Date: 2007/10/03
Volume: 28, Issue: 6, Pages: 1800-1811
Abstract
The application of a magneticfieldfluctuation thermometer MFFT is described for practical thermometry in the lowtemperature range The MFFT inductively measures the magnetic noise generated by Johnson noise currents in a metallic temperature sensor The temperature of the sensor is deduced from its thermal magnetic noise spectrum by applying the Nyquist theorem making the thermometer in principle linear over a wide range of temperatures In this setup a niobiumbased dc SQUID gradiometer detects the magnetic field fluctuations The gradiometer design optimizes the inductive coupling to the metallic temperature sensor yet equally ensures sufficient insensitivity to external magnetic interference In order to obtain a highly sensitive and fast thermometer the SQUID chip is placed directly onto the surface of the temperature sensor The compact setup of the gradiometer/temperature sensor unit ensures good conditions for thermal equilibration of the sensor with the temperature to be measured a factor that becomes increasingly important in the temperature range below 1 K The first direct comparison measurements of the MFFT with a highaccuracy realization of the Provisional Low Temperature Scale of 2000 PLTS2000 are presented Special emphasis is given to the investigation of the linearity speed and accuracy of the MFFT
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