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Design and calibration of a cryogenic blackbody calibrator at centimeter wavelengths

Rev. Sci. Instrum. 75, 5079 (2004); doi:10.1063/1.1821622

Published 10 November 2004

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A. Kogut and E. Wollack
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

D. J. Fixsen, M. Limon, and P. Mirel
SSAI Code 685, NASA/GSFC Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

S. Levin and M. Seiffert
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California 91109

P. M. Lubin
Department of Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106
We describe the design and calibration of an external cryogenic blackbody calibrator used for the first two flights of the Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission (ARCADE) instrument. The calibrator consists of a microwave absorber weakly coupled to a superfluid liquid helium bath. Half-wave corrugations viewed 30° off axis reduce the return loss below –35  dB within a compact footprint. Ruthenium oxide resistive thermometers embedded within the absorber monitor the temperature across the face of the calibrator. The thermal calibration transfers the calibration of a reference thermometer to the flight thermometers using the flight thermometer readout system. The calibrator thermometry is stable in time over four years, with statistical uncertainty in the temperature calibration of order 2  mK near 2.7  K, limited primarily by thermal fluctuations in the liquid helium bath. Observations of the superfluid transition demonstrate that the absolute temperature scale is accurate within 0.3  mK. ©2004 American Institute of Physics
History: Received 24 February 2004; accepted 7 September 2004; published 10 November 2004
Permalink: http://link.aip.org/link/?RSINAK/75/5079/1
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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords
PACS
  • 95.55.Ym
    Gravitational radiation detectors; mass spectrometers; and other instrumentation and techniques
  • 07.20.Dt
    Thermometers
  • 07.20.Mc
    Cryogenics, refrigerators; low-temperature equipment
  • YEAR: 2004

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PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN:
0034-6748 (print)   1089-7623 (online)
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REFERENCES (7)
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  1. A. Kogut, E. Wollack, D. Fixsen, M. Limon, P. Mirel, S. Levin, M. Seiffert, and P. Lubin, Astrophys. J., Suppl. Ser. 154, 493 (2004).
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  7. D. J. Fixsen et al., Astrophys. J. 611, 86 (2004).

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