The watt balance: determination of the Planck constant and redefinition of the kilogram

Since 1889, the international prototype of the kilogram has served as the definition of the unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI). It is the last material artefact to define a base unit of the SI, and it influences several other base units. This situation is no longer acceptable in a time of ever-increasing measurement precision. It is therefore planned to redefine the unit of mass by fixing the numerical value of the Planck constant. At the same time three other base units, the ampere, the kelvin and the mole, will be redefined. As a first step, the kilogram redefinition requires a highly accurate determination of the Planck constant in the present SI system, with a relative uncertainty of the order of 1 part in 10(8). The most promising experiment for this purpose, and for the future realization of the kilogram, is the watt balance. It compares mechanical and electrical power and makes use of two macroscopic quantum effects, thus creating a relationship between a macroscopic mass and the Planck constant. In this paper, the operating principle of watt balance experiments is explained and the existing experiments are reviewed. An overview is given of all available experimental determinations of the Planck constant, and it is shown that further investigation is needed before the redefinition of the kilogram can take place. Independent of this requirement, a consensus has been reached on the form that future definitions of the SI base units will take.