Techniques for Primary Acoustic Thermometry to 800 K

The NIST Primary Acoustic Thermometer will measure the difference between the International Temperature Scale of 1990 and the Kelvin Thermodynamic Scale throughout the range 273 K to 800 K with uncertainties of only a few millikelvins. The acoustic thermometer determines the frequencies of the acoustic resonances of pure argon gas contained within a spherical cavity with uncertainties approaching one part in 106. To achieve this small uncertainty at these elevated temperatures we developed new acoustic transducers and new techniques for the maintenance of gas purity and for temperature control. The new electro‐acoustic transducers are based on the capacitance between a flexible silicon wafer and a rigid backing plate. Without the damping usually provided by polymers, mechanical vibrations caused unstable, spurious acoustic signals. We describe our techniques for suppression of these vibrations. Our acoustic thermometer allows the argon to be continuously flushed through the resonator, thereby preventing t...