A Practical Josephson Voltage Standard at One Volt

This paper [1] is considered the seminal 1 , definitive paper describing the revolutionary one-volt Josephson junction 2 array
standard. The National Institute of Standard Technologie (NIST) 3 changed forever high accuracy voltage measurements with
this development, which built on earlier work at NIST and a microwave feed design from the then West German standards laboratory, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). The basic element of the array is the Josephson junction, in the form of
a superconductor-insulator-superconductor sandwich. When irradiated with microwave energy, such a junction exhibits a dc
potential uniquely determined by the frequency of the radiation, the electronic charge, and Plancks constant, with a single junction providing a few millivolts. In other words, a Josephson junction can act as a superb frequency-to-dc voltage converter.
A properly designed and fabricated array of junctions can be excited to produce a series of very accurate quantized voltages, or
steps.
As developed and demonstrated by the NIST team [1-8], a Josephson-junction-based voltage standard system consists of microwave source and feed, cryostat, probe, chip, and readout and control system.
Microwave energy is fed into the chip
mounted in the probes chip carrier and cooled by liquid helium. The array standard microchip is fabricated by techniques
analogous to those used to fabricate silicon integrated circuits, although with very different material systems.
For almost 80 years, starting in 1901, the U.S. Legal Volt was maintained by several groups of standard cells. There was a
large effort in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century to establish a standard for electromotive force (emf)
based on electrochemical reactions within chemical cells. The first legal unit of voltage for the United States was based on the
Clark cell , developed by Latimer Clark in 1872, with its output assigned a value of 1.434 international volts by the 1893 International Electric Congress. Public Law 105, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1894, made this the legal standard of voltage in
the U.S. During the years between 1893 and 1905, the standard cell devised by Edward Weston was found to have many advantages over the Clark cell [9]. The Weston cell consists of a cadmium amalgam anode and a mercury-mercurous sulfate
cathode with a saturated cadmium sulfate solution as the electrolyte.
In 1908, at the London International Conference on
Electrical Units and Standards, the Weston cell was officially adopted for maintaining the volt. After 1908, only Weston cells
were used for maintaining the national standard in the United States.
The Weston standard cell can be disturbed by transport or if it is subjected to a change in temperature or a small electrical
current. When at times it was necessary to eliminate cellsdue to changes in emf of a cell relative to the mean of the group
new cells could be added. In 1965 the National Reference Group of standard cells [10] included 11 cells made in 1906, seven
cells made in 1932, and 26 cells made in 1948. Long-term stability of the volt reference was also maintained by comparisons
of neutral and acid cells, preparing and characterizing new cells, and through international comparisons and absolute ampere
and ohm experiments. According to Driscoll and Olsen [11], the results of the absolute current-balance measurements could
be regarded as assigning a value to the emf of the standard cell used to control the strength of the current and as a check on
the emf of the NIST standard cell bank. The use of the Weston cell as the national standard of voltage was supported by a
considerable amount of research in electrochemistry and related fields at National Bureau of Standars (NBS).
Before the Josephson effect was discovered, it was difficult to provide incontrovertible evidence regarding the long-term
stability of the U.S. Legal Volt. However, considerable evidence indicated that the unit of emf preserved with standard cells
was unlikely to have changed by any significant amount, relative to the best measurements of the time, from the early 1900s to
the 1960s.
In the late 1950s, research in solid-state physics stimulated the growth of the semiconductor industry. A new type of voltage standard based on a solid-state device, the Zener diode, appeared in the early 1960s. W. G. Eicke at NBS first reported the
possibility of using Zener diodes as transport standards [12]. In the following years, after several manufacturers started making commercial Zener voltage standards, these references began to replace standard cells in commercial use. Although Zener
voltage standards exhibit higher noise characteristics than standard cells and are affected by environmental conditions of temperature, atmospheric pressure, and relative humidity, they are now widely used in many metrology laboratories because of their
robust transportability.
In 1962, Brian Josephson, a graduate student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, predicted that electrons can tunnel in
pairs (Cooper pairs) between two superconductors separated by a thin insulating barrier (a weak link or Josephson junction).
An applied dc voltage V across the barrier would generate an ac current at the frequency f = 2eV/h, where e is the elementary
charge and h is Plancks constant. Conversely, an applied ac current of frequency f would generate a dc voltage Vn at the
quantized values
Vn = nhf /2e ,
where n is an integer and the value of 2e/h is approximately 483.6 MHz/V.
1

As palavras sublinhadas esto transcritas, no Apndice I, na pg. 4, da referncia [24] American Heritage Dictionary ,.
Algumas palavras em Itlico esto transcritas, no Apndice II, na pg. 6, da referncia [25] The Penguin Ddictionary of
Physics
3
As siglas que aparecem neste trabalho esto reunidas no Apndice III, na pg. 8.
2

One of the issues was whether this relationship was materials independent. In 1968 Parker, Langenberg, Denenstein, and
Taylor [13] compared, via a potentiometer, the Josephson voltages of junctions consisting of five different superconducting
materials and various combinations of thin-film tunnel junctions or point contacts with 1.018 V Weston saturated standard cells
[10] calibrated by NBS. They obtained a value of 2e/h with a one-standard-deviation fractional uncertainty of 3.6 x 106.
It was argued on fundamental grounds that the above must be exact. The use of superconducting-quantum-interference device (SQUID) null detectors in the early 1970s allowed this to be tested to a few parts in 109, and thus the Josephson effect had
obvious potential for use as a voltage standard [14]. By the early 1970s, NIST staff had set up a potentiometric measurement
system in Gaithersburg that compared 2 mV to 10 mV dc Josephson junction voltages with 1.018 V standard cells to a few parts
in 108 [15,16]. International comparisons in 1971-72 among national metrology institutes (NMIs), including NBS, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the U.K., the National Research Council (NRC) in Canada, the National Standards Laboratory (NSL) in Australia, and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Germany, as well as the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), found that the measured values of 2e/h agreed with each other to within 2 x 107 [17].
These results from the NMIs suggested the course of adopting a value of 2e/h for use in maintaining units of voltage. The
United States was the first nation to do this, and the value of 2e/h to be used at NBS was chosen to prevent a discontinuity when
NIST converted from standard cells to the Josephson effect [18]. NBS began maintaining and disseminating the U.S. volt
based on the Josephson effect in July 1972, using a 10 mV measurement system with relative uncertainty of 2 x 108. Soon
after, the Consultative Committee on Electricity (CCE) of the International Committee of Weights and Measures (CIPM) recommended the value KJ72 = 483 594 GHz/V, which was adopted by all countries except the United States, France, and the
Soviet Union.
In many applications, Josephson junctions were undoubtedly better references than standard cells, which are sensitive
to environmental conditions, can shift values on transport, and
can drift by a few parts in 108 per year. The typical 5 mV to
10 mV reference output from early Josephson devices made
from a few junctions required both very low-level voltage
balances and scaling by a factor of 100, both of which seriously limited the accuracy of measuring 1.018 V standard
cells.
Then in 1977, M.T. Levinson and colleagues showed that
unbiased Josephson junctions would spontaneously develop
quantized dc voltages when irradiated with microwaves,
opening the path to successful Josephson junction arrays. C.
A. Hamilton, R. L. Kautz, F. L. Lloyd, and others of the NBS
Electromagnetic Technology Division at Boulder began developing and improving Josephson standards based on series
arrays of junctions operated near zero dc voltage bias [3,19].
Stable 1 V zero-crossing arrays were operating at NBS [1]
and PTB [20] by 1985, using about 1500 junctions and rf
fields of 70 GHz to 90 GHz. Arrays with output voltages at
the level of 1 V soon were used in National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) throughout the world [21]. By 1989, NIST had
made a 19 000 junction, 12 V array [2]. The widespread use
of Josephson junction arrays in national standards laboratories,
and better SI determinations of 2e/h, led the CCE to recommend a new exact conventional value for the Josephson constant:
KJ90 = 483 597.9 GHz/V,
which is fractionally larger by 8 x 106 than the 1972 conventional value.
The new value was adopted worldwide on
January 1, 1990, and thereby became the new basis for the
U.S. Legal Volt. This definition of KJ90 is the present volt
representation, based on an ideal Josephson voltage standard.
The conventional value was assumed by the CCE to have a
relative standard uncertainty of 0.4 V/V.
By convention,
this uncertainty is not included in the uncertainties of the representation of the volt, since any offset from the SI volt will be
consistent among different laboratories using the Josephson
effect standard.

One-volt NIST Josephson Junction array standard having 3020

junctions. The chip was designed and built by staff of the
Electromagnetic Technology Division in Boulder in the
cryoelectronic fabrication laboratory. It operates at liquidhelium temperatures; microwave energy is fed to four chains
of junctions through the finguide structure at the left. The thin
tapered structures at the end of each chain are terminations to
prevent reflection of energy back up the chain.

JVS 7010 Josephson Junction Array Chip 10V

The term intrinsic standard is sometimes used to describe a type of standard, such as a Josephson Voltage Standard (JVS),
quantum Hall resistance standard, triple point cell, deadweight pressure gauge, etc., based on physical laws rather than on the
stability of physical artifacts that depend on bulk materials properties. There are approximately twenty industrial and military
calibration laboratories throughout the United States that operate a JVS as a basis for traceable calibration measurements. The
JVS consists of many cryogenic and microwave components, and each of these, as well as the environment and the user technique, can contribute uncertainty to the voltage measurement. Accordingly, it is necessary to make intercomparisons among
independent JVS laboratories, to ensure the correctness of the measurements in these laboratories, just as it is at the international
level. In 1991 NIST conducted the first JVS laboratory comparison experiment using transportable 10 V Zener standards, in
which five other U.S. industrial and military laboratories participated [22]. Such comparisons are now carried out regularly
under the auspices of the National Conference of Standards Laboratories, an industry trade association, with support from NIST
as necessary.
Prepared by Y. Tang, N. B. Belecki, and J. F. Mayo-Wells based on excerpts from the paper The Ampere and Electrical Units
[23], authored by members of the Electricity Division.
Bibliography
[1] C. A. Hamilton, R. L. Kautz, R. L. Steiner, and Frances L.
Lloyd, A Practical Josephson Voltage Standard at 1 V,
IEEE Electron Device Lett. EDL-6, 623-625 (1985).
[2] Clark A. Hamilton, Frances L. Lloyd, Kao Chieh, and
Wayne C. Goeke, A 10-V Josephson Voltage Standard,
IEEE Trans.Instrum. Meas. 38, 314-316 (1989).
[3] R. L. Kautz and Frances L. Lloyd, Precision of SeriesArray Josephson Voltage Standards, Appl. Phys. Lett.
51, 2043-2045 (1987).
[4] Frances L. Lloyd, Clark A. Hamilton, J. A. Beall, Diane
Go, R. H. Ono, and Richard E. Harris, A Josephson Array Voltage Standard at 10 V, IEEE Electron Device
Lett. EDL-8, 449-450 (1987).
[5] Clark A. Hamilton, Richard L. Kautz, Frances L. Lloyd,
Richard L. Steiner, and Bruce F. Field, The NBS Josephson Array Voltage Standard, IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas.
IM-36, 258-261 (1987).
[6] R. L. Kautz, C. A. Hamilton, and Frances L. Lloyd, Series-Array Josephson Voltage Standards, IEEE Trans.
Magn. MAG-23, 883-890 (1987).
[7] C. A. Hamilton, R. L. Kautz, and Frances L. Lloyd, The
NBS Josephson Array Voltage Standard, in CPEM 86
Digest: 1986 Conference on Precision Electromagnetic
Measurements, June 23-27, 1986, National Bureau of
Standards, Gaithersburg, MD, Ronald F. Dziuba, (ed.),
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New
York (1986) pp. 108-109.

Precision Measurement and Fundamental Constants, D.

N. Langenberg and B. N. Taylor (eds.), NBS Special
Publication 343, National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC (1971) pp. 117-121.
[12] W. G. Eicke, Commentaires sur lutilisation des diodes
de zener comme etalons de tension, Comite Consultatif
dElectricite, 11e Session, BIPM, Paris, France (1963)
pp. 1874-1877.
[13] W. H. Parker, D. N. Langenberg, A. Denenstein, and B.
N. Taylor, Determination of e/h, using macroscopic
quantum phase coherence in superconductors: I. Experiment, Phys. Rev. 177, 639-664 (1969).
[14] B. N. Taylor, W. H. Parker, D. N. Langenberg, and A.
Denenstein, On the use of the ac Josephson effect to
maintain standards of electromotive force, Metrologia 3,
89-98 (1967).
[15] F. K. Harris, H. A. Fowler, and P. T. Olsen, Accurate
Hamon-pair potentiometer for Josephson frequency-tovoltage measurements, Metrologia 6, 134-142 (1970).
[16] B. F. Field, T. F. Finnegan, and J. Toots, Volt maintenance at NBS via 2e/h : a new definition of the NBS
volt, Metrologia 9, 155-166 (1973).
[17] Woodward G. Eicke and Barry N. Taylor, Summary of
international comparisons of as-maintained units of voltage and values of 2e/h, IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. IM21, 316-319 (1972).

[8] C. A. Hamilton, F. L. Lloyd, and R. L. Kautz, A Josephson Series Array Voltage Standard at One Volt, in Proceedings of the NCSL Workshop and Symposium, July
15-18, Boulder, CO, (1985) pp. 71-77.

[18] Barry N. Taylor, History of the present value of 2e/h

commonly used for defining national units of voltage
and possible changes in national units of voltage and resistance, IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. IM-36, 659-664
(1987).

[9] F. B. Silsbee, Establishment and Maintenance of the Electrical Units, NBS Circular 475, National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC (1949).

[19] R. L. Kautz, Noise, chaos, and the Josephson voltage

standard, Rep. Prog. Phys. 59, 935-992 (1996).

[10] Walter J. Hamer, Standard CellsTheir Construction,

Maintenance,and Characteristics, NBS Monograph 84,
National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC (1965).
[11] R. L. Driscoll and P. T. Olsen, Application of nuclear
resonance to the monitoring of electrical standards, in

[20] J. Niemeyer, L. Grimm, W. Meier, J. H. Hinken, and E.

Vollmer, Stable Josephson reference voltages between
0.1 and 1.3 V for high-precision voltage standards, Appl.
Phys. Lett. 47, 1222-1223 (1985).

[21] Richard L. Steiner and Bruce F. Field, Josephson array

voltage calibration system: operational use and verification, IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. 38, 296-301 (1989).
[22] R. L. Steiner and S. Starley, MAP voltage transfer between 10 V Josephson array systems, in Proceedings of
the NCSL Workshop and Symposium NCSL91, Natl.
Conf. Stand. Lab., Boulder, CO (1991) pp. 205-209.

liams, The Ampere and Electrical Units, J. Res. Natl.

Inst. Stand. Technol., January-February (2001)
[24] The American Heritage Dictionary third edition
[25] The Penguin Dictionary of Physics. Third Edition. Penguin Books

[23] R. E. Elmquist, M. E. Cage, Y. Tang, A-M. Jeffery, J. R.

Kinard, R. F. Dziuba, N. M. Oldham, and E. R. Wil-

APNDICE I
Vocabulrio [24]
accuracy - n. 1. Conformity to fact. 2. Precision; exactness.
authored
author - n. 1. Abbr. auth., au a. The original writer of a literary work. b. One who practices writing as a profession. 2. An
originator or creator: the author of a new theory. 3. Author. God. --author tr.v. authored, authoring, authors. Usage
Problem. To assume responsibility for the content of (a published or an unpublished text). [Middle English auctour, from
Old French autor, from Latin auctor, creator, from auctus, past participle of augre, to create. See aug- below.] -authorial (-thr-l, -thr-) adj.
USAGE NOTE: The verb author, which had been out of use for a long period, has been rejuvenated in recent years with the
sense to assume responsibility for the content of a published text. As such it is not quite synonymous with the verb write;
one can write, but not author, a love letter or an unpublished manuscript, and the writer who ghostwrites a book for a celebrity cannot be said to have authored the creation. The sentence He has authored a dozen books on the subject was unacceptable to 74 percent of the Usage Panel, probably because it implies that the fact of having a book published is worthy of
special lexical distinction, a notion that sits poorly with conventional literary sensibilities, and which seems to smack of
press agentry. The sentence The Senator authored a bill limiting uses of desert lands in California was similarly rejected by
64 percent of the Panel, though here the usage is common journalistic practice, and is perhaps justified by the observation
that we do not expect that legislators will actually write the bills to which they attach their names. The verb coauthor is
well established in reference to scientific and scholarly publications, where it serves a useful purpose, since the people listed
as authors of such works routinely include research collaborators who have played no part in the actual writing of the text,
but who are nonetheless entitled to credit for the published results.
hover - intr.v. hovered, hovering, hovers. 1. To remain floating, suspended, or fluttering in the air: gulls hovering over the
waves. 2. To remain or linger in or near a place: hovering around the speaker's podium. See Synonyms at flutter. 3. To remain in an uncertain state; waver: hovered between anger and remorse. --hover n. The act or state of hovering: a helicopter
in hover. [Middle English hoveren, frequentative of hoven.] --hoverer n. --hoveringly adv.
seminal - adj. 1. Of, relating to, containing, or conveying semen or seed. 2. Of, relating to, or having the power to originate;
creative. 3. Highly influential in an original way; constituting or providing a basis for further development. [Middle English,
from Old French, from Latin sminlis, from smen, smin-, seed. See SEMEN.] --seminally adv.
uniquely adv
unique - adj. 1. Being the only one of its kind: the unique existing example of Donne's handwriting. See Synonyms at single. 2. Without an equal or equivalent; unparalleled. 3.a. Characteristic of a particular category, condition, or locality: a
problem unique to coastal areas. b. Informal. Unusual; extraordinary: spoke with a unique accent. [French, from Old
French, from Latin nicus. See oi-no- below.] --uniquely adv. --uniqueness n.
USAGE NOTE: Over the course of the century unique has become the paradigmatic example of the class of terms that do
not allow comparison or modification by an adverb of degree such as very, somewhat, or quite. Thus, most grammarians
believe that it is incorrect to say that something is very unique or more unique than something else, though phrases such as
nearly unique and almost unique are acceptable. In the most recent survey the sentence Her designs are quite unique in today's fashion scene was unacceptable to 80 percent of the Usage Panel. Critical objections to the comparison and degree
modification of absolute terms date to the 18th century and have been applied to a wide group of adjectives including equal,
fatal, omnipotent, parallel, perfect, and unanimous. According to the standard argument, such words denote properties that

a thing either does or does not have but cannot have to a qualifiable degree. Thus if unique is properly used to mean without equal or equivalent, something either is unique or it isn't, and phrases such as very unique and more unique can only
betray a weakening of the sense to mean something like unusual or distinctive. It is true that comparison and modification of unique are often associated with the style favored by copywriters, as in the advertisement announcing that Omaha's
most unique restaurant is now even more unique or in the claim that a new automobile is So unique, it's patented. But modification of unique is also found in the work of reputable writers, where it may lack any connotations of hyperbole. A painting is described as the most unique of Beckman's self-portraits, and a travel writer states that Chicago is no less unique an
American city than New York or San Francisco. The relative acceptability of these usages reflects the semantic subtlety of
unique itself. If we were to use unique only according to the strictest criteria of logic, after all, we might freely apply the
term to anything in the world since nothing is wholly equivalent to anything else. Clearly, then, when we say that a restaurant or painting is unique, we mean that it is worthy of inclusion in a class by itself according to certain implicit but generally accepted criteria. Thus a legitimately unique painting might be one that realizes an unparalleled aesthetic vision, but not
one that is rendered only in pigments whose names begin with the letter o; and a legitimately unique restaurant might be
one that serves 18th-century French cuisine according to the original recipes, not one that has been installed in a converted
sardine cannery. Given this understanding, it is not inherently impossible to think of uniqueness as a matter of degree, in the
sense that one painting or restaurant may be more or less worthy of inclusion in a class by itself than some other. What is
troubling about the copywriters' use of unique is not that the word has become a synonym for unusual. Rather, it is the
copywriters who are using the word in conformity with strict logic. Uniqueness is claimed for a restaurant in virtue of some
trivial properties of its decor or menu, or for a resort hotel that simply happens to have a singularly picturesque view of the
bay. Though it may be true that such properties render these things logically unique, they do not constitute legitimate
grounds for putting the things into a class by themselves according to the criteria ordinarily invoked when things are sorted
into classes. In fact, the abuse of unique can be cloying even when no modification or comparison is involved; when we
read an advertisement for a line of sportswear that features a unique selection of colors, we may suspect that the distinctive
properties of the color selection are not so remarkable as the advertiser would have us believe. But it is not surprising that
these uses of unique should lend themselves to promiscuous modification and comparison; for once it is granted that
uniqueness can be claimed for any product or service that is somehow distinctive from all its competitors, it is inevitable
that an increase in uniqueness will be seen in every minor innovation. See Usage Note at equal, infinite, parallel, perfect.
usage - n. 1.a. The act, manner, or amount of using; use: the usage of a technical term; an instrument that measures water
usage. b. The act or manner of treating; treatment: subjected the car to rough usage. 2. A usual, habitual, or accepted practice. See Synonyms at habit. 3. The way in which words or phrases are actually used, spoken, or written in a speech community. 4. A particular expression in speech or writing: a nonce usage. [Middle English, from Old French, from us, from
Latin sus, from past participle of t, to use.]
superb - adj. 1. Of unusually high quality; excellent: a superb wine; superb skill. 2. Majestic; imposing: The cheetah is a superb animal. 3. Rich; luxurious. [Latin superbus, arrogant, superior. See uper.] --superbly adv. --superbness n.
tin n. 1. Symbol Sn A malleable, silvery metallic element obtained chiefly from cassiterite. It is used to coat other metals to
prevent corrosion and is a part of numerous alloys, such as soft solder, pewter, type metal, and bronze. Atomic number 50;
atomic weight 118.69; melting point 231.89C; boiling point 2,270C; specific gravity 7.31; valence 2, 4. 2. Tin plate. 3. A
container or box made of tin plate. 4. Chiefly British. a. A container for preserved foodstuffs; a can. b. The contents of such
a container. --tin tr.v. tinned, tinning, tins. 1. To plate or coat with tin. 2. Chiefly British. To preserve or pack in tins; can.
--tin adj. 1. Of, relating to, or made of tin. 2.a. Constructed of inferior material. b. Spurious. [Middle English, from Old
English.]
WORD HISTORY: The history of the word tin may take us back to a time before Europe had been settled by speakers of
Indo-European languages, such as the Germanic and Celtic languages. Related words for this metal are found in almost all
Germanic languages, such as German Zinn, Swedish tenn, and Old English tin (as in Modern English), but no other IndoEuropean language family has such a word. The word may have been borrowed into the Germanic languages from a preIndo-European language of Western Europe. Such borrowing is supported by the fact that during the Bronze Age the Near
East imported most of its tin and copper from Europe, where the metals were produced and metal objects were manufactured. Lest we be too amazed by this accomplishment, we might remember another remarkable achievement of pre-IndoEuropean society, the construction of huge megalithic monuments such as Stonehenge.
uper. Over. 1. Extended form *uperi. a. OVER, from Old English ofer, over; b. ORLOP, from Middle Low German over, over.
Both a and b from Germanic *uberi. 2. Variant form *(s)uper. a. SOUBRETTE, SOVEREIGN, SUPER-, SUPERABLE,
SUPERIOR, SUPREME, (SUPREMO), SUR-; SIRLOIN, from Latin super, super-, above, over; b. suffixed form *(s)uperno-. SUPERNAL, from Latin supernus, above, upper, top; c. suffixed form *super-bhw-o-, being above (*bhw-o-, being;
see bheu-). SUPERB, from Latin superbus, superior, excellent, arrogant; d. suffixed (superlative) reduced form *sup-mo. SUM, SUMMIT, from Latin summus, highest, topmost; e. suffixed form *super-o-. (SOPRANINO), SOPRANO, SUPRA-

; SOMERSAULT, from Latin supr (feminine ablative singular), above, beyond. 3. Basic form *uper. HYPER-, from Greek
huper, over. [Pokorny uper 1105.]
uper. Important derivatives are: over, sovereign, super-, superior, supreme, sirloin, superb, sum, summit, soprano, somersault, hyper-.
A P N D I C E II
Vocabulrio tcnico de fsica [25]
Clark cell a voltaic cell, formerly adopted as a standard of e.m.f. It consist of a mercury electrode surrounded by a paste of
mercury sulphate, the negative electrode being a rod of pure zinc in a saturated solution of zinc sulphate. Its e.m.f. was defined to be 1.4345 volts ar 15o C. It has now been superseded by the Weston Standard Cell.
Josepshon junction see Josephson effect
Josephson effect [24] any of the phenomena that occur at sufficiently low temperatures when a current flows through a thin
insulating layer between two superconducting substances ( see superconductivity ). The narrow insulating gap between the
superconductors is know as a Josephson junction, and is usually in the form of a very thin film. The electrons forming the
current are able to leak across the junction as a result of the Tunnel Effect.
The current can flow across the junction in the absence of an applied voltage: this is the d.c. Josephson effect. In certain circuit configurations of Josepshon junctions, the superconducting current is highly sensitive to a magnetic field. This
allows it to be used as a extremely fast electronic switch with very low power dissipation ( see squid ).
If a voltage is applied across a Josephson junction, then na alternating current flows through the junction: this is the
a. c. Jophson effect. The current varies at a microwave frequency, v, which is related to the voltage V:
V = (2e/h)V ,
where h is the Planck constant and e the electron charge; the quantity 2e/h is called the Josephson constant. Conversely,
if microwave radiation ( frequency 10 100 GHz ) impinges on a Josephson junction, the microwave frequency can be related to increments in the voltage developed across the junction when a superconducting current flows. The voltage increments are very precise, being equal to multiples of (h/2e) times the frequency. It is now possible to connect many thousands of Josephson junctions in a long line to obtain a measurable voltage. These voltage can be used, for example, to
compare laboratory voltage standards, and to standardize the volt to within a few parts in 108.
Superconductivity a phenomenon occurring in many metals including tin, aluminium, zinc, mercury, and cadmium, many
alloys, and intermetallic compounds. If these substances are cooled below a transition temperature, TC , the electrical resistance vanishes. ( There is also a marked difference in the variation with temperature of the Specific Heat Capacity below
TC ). For pure metals the transition temperature is usually a few kelvin but for some compounds much higher values are
obtained. Current research are aimed at developing superconductors with TC near to, or even above, room temperatures.
Since a compound of two nonsuperconducting metals can be superconduting, the phenomenon is not a property of the
atom but of the free electrons in the metal. In the superconducting state the electrons do not move independently. There
is a dynamic pairing of electrons ( a Cooper pair ) such that if the quantum state with wawenumber - and spin . These
pais are superimposed in phase. The two electron interact throght lattice vibrations, and the formation of these bound pairs
is not prevented by the presence of other electrons. Cooper pairs are the basis of the BCS theory ( 1957, named after
Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer ). This theory accounts for many of the properties of conventional superconductors but is
less successful for the recently discovered high-temperature superconductors; these rely on Heavy-fermion substances in
which the transition temperature can be as high as 100 K. The practical advantage of these high-temperature superconductors is that they can operate at liquid-nitrogen temperatures rather then the liquid-helium temperatures required by BCS
superconductors. An example of such superconductor is YBa2Cu3O1-7 . The theory of these superconductors has not been
established yet but various models have been proposed and tested.
The magnetic behavior of superconductors is extremely complicated.
When a superconductor, in a weak magnetic
field, is cooled below its transition , the magnetic flux inside the substance is expelled except for a thin surface layer. This
is the Meissner effect. A bar magnetic dropped onto such a conductor will be repelled and will hover above it, exhibiting
levitation. The Meissner effect implies that superconductor exhibit perfect diamagnetism. This in turn implies the existence of a large energy gap between ground state and first excited state so that all superconducting electrons are in a particular ground state; this is possible for Cooper pairs. Superconduticvity can be destroyed by a magnetic field either an
external field or one produced by a current flowing in the metal. This is used in the criotron. A current induced in a
closed ring of superconducting material by a magnetic field will continue to flow after the removal of the field for a considerable time, without diminution in strength, if the temperature is kept below TC . This effect has been used in superconducting magnets in which very large magnetic field strengths can be produced without the expenditure of large amount of

electrical power or the production of heat. The superconduction electrons form an energy band below that of the normal
conduction band and do not take part e in heat conduction. Hence the thermal conductivity of metals is usually less in superconting state. At very low temperatures, however, it may rise because of increased phonon conductivity
Planck constant Symbol: h . A universal constant having the value 6.626 076 x 10-34

Tunnel Effect The movement of particles through barriers that, on classical theory, they would have insuffient energy to surmount. Classically, if a particle
moves in one direction with kinetic energy E and approaches a potential-energy
barrier of height U , it can get over it by converting some of its kinetics energy
into potential energy. If E< U the probability of finding the particle at a point
( see diagram ) would be zero. However, even when E < U the particle can
tunnel through the barrier. This is explained by wave mechanics. If the wave
function , , of the particle is considered inside the region of the barrier, i. e.
taking point A as x = 0 , the Schrdinger wave equation has the form:

energy

Squid ( Superconducting quantum device ) Any of a family of superconducting devices that are capable of measuring extremely small magnetic fields, voltages, and currents. Their action is based on the d. c. Josephson current flowing across
Josephson junctions ( see Josephson effect ) in certain configurations, the current in such a device being highly sensitive to
na external magnetic field.

U
E

d 2
8 2 m
( E U ) = 0 ,
+
d 2 x2
h2

distance

and a general solution:

2 i x

= A exp
(2 m(U E )) ,
h

where A is a constant, m the particle mass, h the Plank constant, x the distance into the barrier, and i = -1.
solution is

If E < U the

2 x

= A exp
(2 m(U E )) ,
h

Provided the barrier is not infinitely thick or wide there is thus a probability of the particle crossing this region and
reaching X . The effect is too unlike to occur in macroscpic systems but is the basis of Alpha decay and Field emission
Wawenumber Symbol: - the reciprocal of the Wavelenght, i. e. the number of waves per unity path length. It is expressed in
m-1 . The Angular wavenumber, symbol: k , is given by 2/. This is the magnitude of the angular wave vector or propagation vector, symbol: k .
Weston standard cell syn. Cadmium cell. A cell that is a portable standard of electromotive force and is used for calibrating potentiometers and hence all other voltage-measuring instruments. It is constructed in an H-shaped glass vessel, the comstituetns being shown in the diagram. The cell has a very low temperature coefficient of e.m.f. Its e.m.f at toC is givem as:
Et = 1.018 58 4.06 x 10-5 ( t 20 9,5 x 10-7 ( t 20 )2 + 1 x 10-8 ( t 20 ) 3

seal
Electrolyte of CdSO4 solution
3CdSO4 8H2O
crystals
HgSO4 paste
Mercury
pool
Amalgam of
mercury with
12,5% cadmium
Platinum wire contacts
fused through the glass

A P N D I C E III
Siglas:
BIPM - International Bureau of Weights and Measures(France).
CCE - Consultative Committee on Electricity (France)
CIPM - International Committee of Weights and Measures
(France)
JVS - Josephson Voltage Standard
NBS National Bureau of Standars (now NIST)
NCSL - National Conference of Standards Laboratories
NIST National Institute of Standard Technologie

NMIs - National Metrology Institutes

NPL - National Physical Laboratory (U.K.)
NRC - National Research Council (Canada)
NSL - National Standards Laboratory (Australia)
PTB - Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
(Former West German standards laboratory)
SQUID - Superconducting-quantum-interference device.