NMIJ constant-volume gas thermometer for realization of the ITS-90 and thermodynamic temperature measurement

The constant-volume gas thermometer (CVGT) of the National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ), AIST with He-3 as the working gas is used as an interpolating gas thermometer to realize the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) from 3 K to 24.5561 K and as a relative gas thermometer for thermodynamic temperature measurement calibrated at the triple point (TP) of Ne. The standard uncertainties of the realization and measurement are estimated to be 0.58 mK and 0.86 mK at a maximum in the mentioned temperature range, respectively. The maximum difference between both temperatures is about 1 mK. In the calibration of the CVGT, the TP of equilibrium hydrogen (e-H-2) is corrected for isotopic composition as specified in the Technical Annex for the ITS-90. The ambiguity of the TP of Ne due to the variability in isotopic composition is included in the uncertainty. Although the CVGT was also used in 2004 to realize the ITS-90, it was modified for the present experiment to reduce some measurement uncertainty components and the working gas was replaced with a higher-isotopic-purity gas. The results from 2004 were recalculated by correcting for the isotopic composition of e-H-2 and differ insignificantly from the present results, except for a wider scatter.