Current sensing noise thermometry using a low Tc DC SQUID preamplifier

We describe here the design and performance of a current sensing noise thermometer using a low Tc DC SQUID as the front end amplifier. The DC SQUID is used to measure the thermal noise current in a resistor and the temperature is then obtained from the Nyquist formula. The thermometer is fast, absolute and precise and is usable over a wide temperature range below 4.2 K, in principle down to well below 1 mK. The excellent energy sensitivity of the DC SQUID, operated at fixed temperature, enables the use of a relatively large noise resistor, in the mΩ range. This requires relatively short averaging times when measuring the spectrum of noise fluctuations. We have shown that it is possible to determine absolute temperature with a precision of 1% in a measuring time of 10 seconds with an amplifier noise temperature, TN, of the order of 30 µK, and to an accuracy better than 0.3%. The percentage precision is independent of temperature for temperatures much greater than TN. Our method of heat sinking the noise resistor ensures proper cooling of the electrons. We incorporate a fixed point device for checking the gain calibration. We have cooled the thermometer successfully to below 1 mK, achieving a minimum electron temperature of 300 µK. We present the results of a preliminary comparison with a 3He melting curve thermometer (MCT) above 4.5 mK, and with a platinum NMR thermometer down to the lowest temperatures.

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