Towards an optical measurement of the Boltzmann constant at the 10-5 level

K. Djerroud; C. Daussy; O. Lopez; A. Amy-Klein; S. Briaudeau; Y. Hermier; C. Chardonnet

doi:10.1051/anphys:2008036

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Volume 32 / No 2-3 (2007)

Ann. Phys. Fr., 32 2-3 (2007) 175-178

Abstract

Issue		Ann. Phys. Fr. Volume 32, Number 2-3, 2007 COLOQ'1010th conference on lasers and quantum optics


Page(s)		175 - 178
Section		Short contributions
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1051/anphys:2008036
Published online		23 May 2008

Ann. Phys. Fr., Vol. 32, N°2-3 2007, pp. 175-178

Towards an optical measurement of the Boltzmann constant at the 10^-5 level

K. Djerroud¹, C. Daussy¹, O. Lopez¹, A. Amy-Klein¹, S. Briaudeau², Y. Hermier² and C. Chardonnet¹

¹ LPL, Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, UMR 7538 C.N.R.S., Université Paris 13, 99 avenue J.-B. Clément, 93430 Villetaneuse, France
² Institut National de Métrologie, CNAM-INM, 292 rue St Martin, 75141 Paris Cedex 03, France

Corresponding author: djerroud@galilee.univ-paris13.fr

Abstract

We present a new method for direct determination of the Boltzmann constant by laser spectroscopy. The principle consists in recording the linear absorption in a vapour of an atomic or molecular line at a controlled temperature around 273.15 K. By eliminating the pressure broadening, we deduced the pure Doppler width which gives a first optical measurement of the Boltzmann constant k_B. The present determination should be significantly improved in the near future and contribute to a new definition of kelvin.