Reduced Nonlinearity Effect on the Electronic Measurement of the Boltzmann Constant

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has developed a quantum-voltage-noise-source-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 led to reduced uncertainty in the measurement. Recent investigations have shown that some of the distortion in the present electronics arises in the differential stage of both the preamplifier and the analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The distortion can be reduced by compensating the direct current 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.