Towards a practical Johnson noise thermometer for long-term measurements in harsh environments

The impact of mechanical and chemical changes in conventional sensors such as thermocouples and resistance thermometers can be avoided by instead using temperature sensors based on fundamental thermometry. A prime example of this is Johnson noise thermometry, which is based on measurement of the fluctuations in the voltage of a resistor arising from thermal motion of charge carriers — i.e. the ‘Johnson noise’. A Johnson noise thermometer never needs calibration and is insensitive to the condition of the sensor material. It is therefore ideally suited to long-term temperature measurements in harsh environments, such as nuclear reactor coolant circuits, in-pile measurements, nuclear waste management and storage, and severe accident monitoring. There have been a number of previous attempts to develop a Johnson noise thermometer for the nuclear industry, but none have reached commercial exploitation because of technical problems in practical implementation. The main challenge is to extract the tiny Johnson noise signal from ambient electrical noise influences, both from the internal amplification electronics, and from external electrical noise sources. Recent advances in electronics technology and digital signal processing techniques have opened up new possibilities for developing a viable, practical Johnson noise thermometer. We describe a project funded by the UK Technology Strategy Board (now Innovate UK) "Developing the nuclear supply chain" call, currently underway, to develop a practical Johnson noise thermometer that makes use of innovative electronics for ultra-low noise amplification and signal processing. The new electronics technology has the potential to help overcome the problems encountered with previous attempts at constructing a practical Johnson noise thermometer. An outline of the new developments is presented, together with an overview of the current status of the project.