Acoustic measurement of the triple point of neon T Ne and thermodynamic calibration of a transfer standard for accurate cryogenic thermometry

Abstract We used absolute primary acoustic gas thermometry (AGT) to calibrate a Pt–Co resistance thermometer on the thermodynamic temperature scale by measuring the speed of sound in helium at a temperature T* chosen to be near the temperature of the triple point of neon, T Ne. Prior to the present AGT, the Pt–Co thermometer was used with a neon triple-point cell as part of an interlaboratory comparison. Taken together, the results of the interlaboratory comparison and the present AGT redetermined the thermodynamic temperature T Ne = (24.555 15 ± 0.000 24) K. This new value of T Ne is consistent with other recent determinations obtained with various primary methods. After completing the AGT thermodynamic calibration, we used the Pt–Co thermometer to link T* to the temperature ratios measured by single-pressure refractive-index gas thermometry (SPRIGT) in a different laboratory. (Gao et al 2020 Metrologia 57 065006) Now, the T*-linked SPRIGT system can calibrate other thermometers on the thermodynamic temperature scale T in the range 5 K ⩽ T ⩽ T Ne without using the international temperature scale ITS-90. At most temperatures in this range, the uncertainties of the T*-linked SPRIGT system are smaller than those of the ITS-90 systems used by National Metrology Institutes to calibrate resistance thermometers.