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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Natural by-products of large microlensing surveys are huge photometric databases containing photometry of millions of stars from extremely interesting regions of the sky like the Galactic bulge, Galactic disk or Magellanic Clouds. These data may be used for many projects unrelated directly to microlensing. Long time baselines and very good accuracy of photometric data collected with modern CCD detectors make them a gold mine for stellar studies in both variable and non-variable domains. The list of possible projects is long and actually not limited to star research (Dobrzycki et al. 2002, Eyer 2002).

The data collected during the second phase of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE-II, Udalski, Kubiak and Szymański 1997) are particularly attractive for many projects requiring precise photometry. Among the other datasets collected during the microlensing searches, only the OGLE photometry was obtained with the standard BVI filters what makes it very well suited for many astronomical projects. Also, very good astronomical site where the OGLE project has been conducted – the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, made it possible to achieve the best resolution what is crucial in the very dense stellar fields like the Galactic bulge or Magellanic Clouds.

In the previous papers of the series the OGLE project released the photometric maps of the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds (Udalski et al. 1998, Udalski et al. 2000) which contained the mean BVI photometry and astrometry of more than 7 million and 2 million stars from the central parts of the LMC and SMC, respectively. These maps have been widely used by many astronomers worldwide for many projects (e.g., Zaritsky et al. 2002, Edge and Coe 2002, Cordier et al. 2002, Subramaniam and Anupama 2002, Dobrzycki et al. 2002, Eyer 2002 and many more).

In this paper, which is a continuation of the series, we release “The OGLE VI Maps of the Galactic Bulge”. The maps contain the mean VI photometry and astrometry of about 30 million stars from the fields covering about 11 square degrees in different parts of the Galactic center region.

Because of potentially great impact on many astrophysical fields, in particular for studying poorly observed stellar populations toward the Galactic bulge, the OGLE policy is to make the photometric data available to the wide astronomical community. Similarly to our previous maps, the maps of the Galactic bulge are also available from the OGLE Internet archive. Details are provided in the last Section of this paper.

## 2 Observations

Observations presented in this paper were collected during the second phase of the OGLE microlensing search with the 1.3-m Warsaw telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. The observatory is operated by the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The telescope was equipped with the “first generation” camera with a SITe $`2048\times 2048`$ CCD detector working in drift-scan mode. The pixel size was 24 $`\mu `$m giving the 0.417 arcsec/pixel scale. Observations were performed in the “medium” reading mode of the CCD detector with the gain 7.1 e-/ADU and readout noise of about 6.3 e-. Details of the instrumentation setup can be found in Udalski, Kubiak and Szymański (1997).

Forty nine driftscan fields covering about 11 square degrees were monitored regularly (practically on every clear night) in the observing seasons 1997–2000. Each of the fields covers $`14.2\times 57`$ arcmin on the sky. Table 1 lists the equatorial coordinates of the center of each field and field acronym. Positions of some fields overlap by about one arcmin for testing purposes. The driftscan fields were selected to sample wide range ($`12^{}<l<12^{}`$) of the Galactic bulge regions. They were located typically in the strip of lower interstellar extinction below the Galactic equator at $`b3^{}`$ in the areas of the highest stellar density. At positive galactic latitude low extinction windows are rare so only a few fields where the stellar density is high enough for microlensing search were selected. Fig. 1 presents the schematic map of the Galactic bulge with location of all OGLE-II bulge fields.

Regular observations of the Galactic bulge fields started on March 23, 1997 and continued up to November 23, 2000. Observations of three fields BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC47, BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC48 and BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC49 began one year later in 1998 observing season. Two fields, namely BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC45 and BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC46 were observed less frequently mainly to maintain phasing of variable stars discovered in these fields during the OGLE-I phase. Photometry of part of BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC45 field, based on much smaller observational material has already been presented in Paczyński et al. (1999).

Observations were obtained with the standard VI filters closely reproducing the standard system (Section 3). Due to the microlensing search observing strategy, the vast majority of observations were obtained through the I-band filter (150–570 per field) while much smaller number of frames in the V-band were collected (5–18). The effective exposure time was 87 and 124 seconds, for the I and V-band, respectively. After August 14, 1998 (HJD=2451040) the exposure time for the I-band was increased to 99.3 seconds.

More than 16 000 images (about 540 GB of raw data) of the Galactic bulge fields were collected during the OGLE-II phase of the OGLE survey. Because of high stellar density of the fields, observations were only conducted during the nights with good seeing conditions. The median seeing of the entire data set is about 1.25 arcsec. Observations were usually suspended when the seeing exceeded 1.6–1.8 arcsec.

## 3 Data Reduction and Calibration

All collected frames were reduced using the standard OGLE data pipeline in the identical manner as the SMC and LMC data (Udalski et al. 1998, Udalski et al. 2000). The data pipeline is described in detail in Udalski et al. (1998).

To summarize, after de-biasing and flat-fielding, photometry of objects was derived using the DoPhot photometry program (Schechter, Saha and Mateo 1993) running in the fixed position mode on sixty four $`512\times 512`$ pixel subframes. The driftscan image ($`2048\times 8192`$ pixels) was first matched with the so called “template” image, i.e., the image with very good angular resolution (obtained at very good seeing conditions) and then divided into subframes. Photometry of each subframe was tied to the photometry of the template subframe by adding the mean shift derived usually from several hundreds bright stars. Thus, photometry of the template image defines the instrumental system. Objects detected in the template image for the V-band were first matched with the I-band template image objects of a given field so the star numbering was the same in all bands making the data handling much easier. Due to small shifts of the V template images in respect to the I-band image not all stars detected in the I-band image have V photometry.

To determine transformations of the instrumental photometry to the standard system, several Landolt (1992) standard fields were observed on about 250 photometric nights during the OGLE-II observations. Based on thousands observations of standard stars in Landolt (1992) fields located all over the sky and covering large range of colors ($`0.2\mathrm{mag}<VI<2\mathrm{mag}`$), the following average transformations were derived:

$`V`$ $`=`$ $`v0.002\times (VI)+\mathrm{const}_V`$
$`I`$ $`=`$ $`i+0.029\times (VI)+\mathrm{const}_I`$ (1)
$`VI`$ $`=`$ $`0.969\times (vi)+\mathrm{const}_{VI}`$
The typical residuals of calculated minus observed magnitudes of standard stars did not exceed 0.03 mag. Observations of standard stars indicate that the instrumental system was extremely stable during the period of observations and the standard system magnitudes could be derived with good accuracy ($`0.020.04`$ mag) even during the photometric nights when no standard stars were observed.

Transformation of the instrumental magnitudes to the standard system was performed in the following steps. First, the aperture corrections were determined on each of the 64 subframes. They were derived from aperture photometry of typically 20–100 stars per subframe measured in images with faint stars subtracted. Then the total correction consisting of the aperture correction, zero point of transformation, extinction correction and normalization to 1 sec exposure time was obtained. The total corrections were derived independently for about 5 and 30–40 photometric nights for the V and I-band, respectively. Typical standard deviation of the total correction in each of the 64 subframes was of about 0.02–0.03 mag. The mean values of the total correction were subsequently used for the construction of photometric databases (Szymański and Udalski 1993, Udalski et al. 1998) for the V and I-band. The databases contain entire photometry of all objects in a given OGLE field in the system very close to the standard one – only the color term (Eq. 1) is not included.

Equatorial coordinates of objects detected in the OGLE fields were determined in the identical manner as described in Udalski et al. (1998). Objects in the OGLE-II frames were cross-identified with the objects detected in the Digitized Sky Survey images, and the transformation between the OGLE pixel grid and (RA,DEC) coordinates in the DSS coordinate system was derived. About 2000–14000 stars were used for transformation depending on the stellar density in the field. The internal accuracy of the determined equatorial coordinates, as measured in the overlapping regions of neighboring fields is about 0.15–0.20 arcsec. However we remind that the systematic error of the DSS coordinate system may reach 0.7 arcsec.

## 4 Accuracy of Transformation

As we mentioned in the previous Section the OGLE instrumental photometric data were tied to the standard Landolt (1992) system. While the derived transformations (Eq. 1) indicate close approximation of the Landolt’s system it should be noted that the color range of observed standard stars was limited to $`VI<2`$ mag. For redder stars the transformations become extrapolation and are prone to systematic errors. While such systematic effects were negligible in the case of the OGLE-II maps of the Magellanic Clouds, because the vast majority of stars were bluer than $`VI2`$ mag the situation is different in the Galactic bulge case. Many Galactic bulge fields are severely reddened due to large interstellar extinction toward the Galactic center and in some of the fields even more than 50% stars have $`VI>2`$ mag.

One of the main source of systematic errors could be different transmission of the OGLE filters compared to the standard system definition. While the V-band filter is a standard combo of Schott glass filters used to reproduce the V-band with CCD detectors (Bessell 1990) and it should not introduce any significant systematic errors, the I-band filter is our main concern. OGLE-II used 4-mm RG9 Schott glass filter for I-filter approximation which is an alternative to the usually used interference filters (Bessell 1990). The glass filter replacement has wider long-wavelength wing, that is defined by CCD detector sensitivity, contrary to the much sharper drop of transmission at about 9000 Å of the standard I pass-band defined either by interference filter or by fall of sensitivity of photomultipliers originally used for definition of the I-band (Bessell 1990, Landolt 1992). Although this excess of red-side sensitivity of glass filter is rapidly falling with wavelength it can cause some non-linearities in transformations to the standard system, especially for very red objects or highly reddened by interstellar extinction regular stars. The latter are quite common in the Galactic bulge.

Moreover, the excess of the red sensitivity of OGLE-II filter can be affected by atmospheric transmission. In the range of 9000–9900 Å the atmospheric transmission is reduced by telluric absorption bands. The amount of telluric absorption varies with the zenith distance and the amount of precipitable water vapor. This effect makes the OGLE-II filter closer to the standard one, but on the other hand, more sensitive to atmospheric conditions. Fortunately, at very good observing site like Las Campanas Observatory the atmospheric conditions are very stable in long term scale and the large number of photometric nights when calibrations were performed averages atmospheric condition fluctuations.

Ideally, one should determine differences between the OGLE-II and standard I-band filters by observing large number of red color standards. Unfortunately, the number of red standards is very limited and it is practically impossible to calibrate reliably the filters up to $`VI4`$ mag. In practice, the reddest stars in the Landolt’s (1992) standard fields observed by OGLE-II reached only $`VI2`$ mag. Therefore to estimate the possible systematic errors for very red stars we calculated and compared expected I-band magnitudes for OGLE-II and standard filters using models of atmospheres by Kurucz (1993).

First, we derived the OGLE-II I-filter transmission curve using Schott glass filter catalog data and OGLE-II CCD detector quantum efficiency curve from manufacturer data sheet. It is shown in the upper panel of Fig. 2 with the transmission curve of the standard I-band filter as defined by Landolt (1992). We assumed full atmospheric transmission, so our further results are an upper limit of possible filter differences. As we mentioned above telluric absorption makes the filter transmissions more similar. It is known that both – the filter transmission and CCD sensitivity – can vary by a few percent from the catalog data. Therefore we additionally performed further calculations for transmission different by 5% from that shown in Fig. 2. In both cases results were practically identical.

We selected a typical red clump giant star for modeling. Such a star has $`VI1.0`$ mag i.e., its color is more or less in the middle of the range calibrated by standards ($`VI<2`$ mag). We took the Kurucz’s model of atmosphere of a giant with metallicity of $`[\mathrm{Fe}/\mathrm{H}]=0.2`$ (typical for Galactic bulge), $`\mathrm{log}g=2.00`$ and $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=4500`$ K – typical red clump giant values. We used somewhat modified cousins.for program from the Kurucz’s archive to determine the I-band magnitudes for such a giant star for OGLE-II and standard Landolt’s I-band filter. Then we repeated calculations making the star redder by introducing the interstellar extinction obeying standard extinction law with $`R_V=3.1`$ (Cardelli, Clayton and Mathis 1989). Calculations were performed up to very high reddening values of $`E(BV)=3.0`$ mag. The OGLE-II filter results were then transformed to the Landolt’s system using our empirical transformations given by Eq. (1).

Lower panel of Fig. 2 presents results of our calculations. Asterisk marks position of unreddened red clump giant. Dotted line indicates the calculated difference of the OGLE-II filter values transformed to the Landolt’s system with Eq. (1) transformations and magnitudes obtained for the Landolt’s pass-band. As we expected, in the range covered by standard stars ($`VI<2`$ mag) consistency of both magnitudes is very good at 0.03 mag level. However, for redder objects there is a systematic trend giving brighter I-band magnitudes (and redder $`VI`$ colors) for the OGLE-II filter. This effect may reach 0.25 mag at very red $`VI>4`$ mag stars and it is fully understandable, as for redder stars the red excess of the OGLE-II filter transmission is not fully compensated by linear transformation (Eq. 1) based on much bluer stars.

In practice, the differences presented in the lower panel of Fig. 2 are likely to be an upper limit of possible discrepancy between the OGLE-II and Landolt’s standard system. For instance, it is likely that due to telluric absorption the real discrepancy is smaller. Because we are not able to determine precise empirical transformation to the Landolt system in the entire range of observed colors in the Galactic bulge, we leave the data transformed with Eq. (1). The reader should be, however, aware that for very red stars ($`VI>2`$ mag) the magnitudes presented in the OGLE-II maps of the Galactic bulge can differ from the Landolt’s system values even as much as presented in Fig. 2.

## 5 VI Maps of the Galactic Bulge

The VI maps of the Galactic bulge were constructed using the photometric databases of each field. First, the mean magnitudes of each object were calculated with $`5\sigma `$ clipping alghoritm. Then, we corrected the magnitudes for a small systematic error, caused by non-perfect flat-fielding at the edges of the field. This effect was first noticed by Dr. D.S. Graff (Ohio State University), and it was precisely mapped based on observations of hundreds of standard stars. Finally, the color corrections (Eq. 1) were derived and added. Only objects with more than 50 good observations (see Udalski et al. 1998) in the I-band were included in the final maps of the Galactic bulge. The errors of zero points of photometry should not exceed 0.04 mag. Table 2 lists the total number of objects in the OGLE-II maps of the Galactic bulge fields.

Table 3 presents the sample data from the map of the BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC1 field. In the consecutive columns the following data are provided: star ID number, equatorial coordinates, ($`X,Y`$) coordinates in the I-band template image, photometry: V, $`(VI)`$, I, number of observations, number of rejected observations and standard deviation for the VI-bands, respectively. In the electronic version we additionally provide the FITS template images for easy object identification. Maps of all Galactic bulge fields are available electronically from the OGLE Internet archive (see Section 8).

It is worth noting that although the maps contain only the mean photometry of detected stars they can also be used for discrimination of variable stars. Large standard deviation of I-band magnitudes usually indicates stellar variability. It should be also noted that the preliminary catalog of about 200 000 variable stars found in the OGLE-II Galactic bulge fields has already been released (Woźniak et al. 2002; it is also available from the OGLE Internet archive). The maps can be used for more accurate calibration of light curves from that catalog. As the numbering of objects is different in both catalogs, cross-identification can be done by comparison of pixel or equatorial coordinates (the pixel coordinates system is the same in both catalogs).

## 6 Data Tests

### 6.1 Photometry

Quality of the OGLE-II photometry can be assessed from comparison of magnitudes of stars located in the overlaps between neighboring fields. Because each of the fields was calibrated independently such a comparison provides information on accuracy of calibration and the typical accuracy of photometry. Figs. 3 and 4 present differences of magnitudes for stars with magnitudes brighter than $`I=17`$ mag and $`V=19`$ mag, plotted as a function of line number for three fields of different stellar density. The average difference of magnitudes is typically below 0.01 mag indicating good consistency of the calibration procedure. The typical sigma of the Gaussian fitted to the histogram of differences of magnitudes is about 0.025 mag for both, the V and I-band.

### 6.2 Completeness

To estimate the completeness of detection of stars in the OGLE fields we performed similar set of tests as in the case of the SMC and LMC maps. For details the reader is referred to Udalski et al. (1998). In short, we selected a $`512\times 512`$ pixel subframe of the tested field and added artificial stars in random locations. Their magnitude distribution is provided in the first column of Table 4. The subframe was then reduced by the standard reduction procedure and completeness of recovering the artificial stars was studied. One hundred such tests were performed for each subframe.

Table 4 presents results of these tests for three fields of different stellar density for I-band. As can be seen the completeness is high down to stars as faint as $`I18.0`$ mag. For fainter stars it gradually drops. The completeness is also a strong function of stellar density of the field.

## 7 Color-Magnitude Diagrams

Figs. 7–13 show I vs. $`(VI)`$ color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of selected Galactic bulge fields. We present these diagrams to illustrate quality of data and potential usefulness of the OGLE-II maps for studying properties of the Galactic bulge populations. Only part of stars (i.e., about 10–30% of the total number, depending on the field) from each field are plotted in these figures for clarity.

The CMDs in Figs. 7–13 clearly show the most characteristic features of stellar populations toward the Galactic center regions: the main sequence of disk stars (long almost vertical strip at blue side of the CMD), Galactic bulge red giant branch (vertical strip at red part of the CMD) with prominent red clump, Galactic bulge main sequence turn-off part etc.

Figs. 7–13 also show how severely the interstellar extinction affects the diagrams. In Fig. 7 CMDs of two fields located closest (about $`1\text{.}^{}25`$) to the Galactic center are plotted. In BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC44 field the interstellar extinction is so high that only the main sequence of disk stars is visible. In BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC5, located somewhat farther from the center, the Galactic bulge red giant branch with highly elongated red clump becomes visible, but their large parts are still below the detection limit. Fig. 8 presents CMDs of two fields located about $`1\text{.}^{}8`$ from the Galactic center (BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC37 and BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC3). The interstellar extinction is much smaller than in the fields in Fig. 7 but it still changes significantly across the fields so the Galactic bulge red giant branch and red clump are severely smeared. In Fig. 9 CMDs of two additional fields from this group (BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC4 and BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC39) are shown. As the fields are farther from the Galactic center, the interstellar extinction becomes smaller and more uniform, although the variations across the fields are still significant. Fig. 10 presents CMDs of two fields located about $`3\text{.}^{}2`$ from the center. The fields (in particular BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC22) cover regions with patches of higher extinction what again smears the red giant branch and red clump. CMD of BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC43 field located at positive galactic latitude indicates as well high and non-uniform extinction on that side of the bulge while that of BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC6 field located farther at negative latitudes shows much smaller and very uniform extinction (Fig. 11). Fig. 12 presents CMDs of two fields located in the Baade’s window. Extinction in BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC1 is much more uniform than in BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC45. Finally, in Fig. 13 we plot CMDs of two fields (BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC2 and BUL$`\mathrm{\_}`$SC26) located much further from the Galactic center in the regions of relatively small and uniform interstellar extinction.

## 8 Data Availability

The VI maps of the Galactic bulge are available to the astronomical community in the electronic form from the OGLE archive:

http://www.astrouw.edu.pl/~ogle

ftp://sirius.astrouw.edu.pl/ogle/ogle2/maps/bulge/

or its US mirror

http://bulge.princeton.edu/~ogle
ftp://bulge.princeton.edu/ogle/ogle2/maps/bulge/

Also I-band FITS template images of the OGLE-II fields are included. Total volume of the compressed data is equal to about 1.8 GB. Usage of the data is allowed under the condition of acknowledgment to the OGLE project with a reference to this paper.

We provide these data in the most original form to avoid any additional biases. For instance we do not mask bright stars which often produce many artifacts, but such a masking could potentially remove some interesting information on objects located close to them. We also do not remove objects which are located in overlapping areas between the neighboring fields. Cross-identification of these objects can be easily done based on provided equatorial coordinates.

Acknowledgements. We would like to thank Prof. Bohdan Paczyński for many discussions and help at all stages of the OGLE project. We thank Dr. D.S. Graff for information about the systematic error in the early OGLE calibrations. We also thank Dr. A. Olech for carrying out part of the observations of the Galactic bulge in the 1997 observing season. The paper was partly supported by the Polish KBN grant 2P03D01418 to M. Kubiak. Partial support for the OGLE project was provided with the NSF grants AST-9820314 and AST-0204908 and NASA grant NAG5-12212 to B. Paczyński. We acknowledge usage of The Digitized Sky Survey which was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute based on photographic data obtained using The UK Schmidt Telescope, operated by the Royal Observatory Edinburgh.

## REFERENCES

* Bessell, M.S. 1990, P.A.S.P., 102, 1181.
* Cardelli, J.A., Clayton, G.C., and Mathis, J.S. 1989, Astrophys. J., 345, 245.
* Cordier, D., Lebreton, Y., Goupil, M.-J., Lejeune, T., Beaulieu, J.-P., and Arenou, F. 2002, Astron. Astrophys., 392, 169.
* Dobrzycki, A., Groot, P.J., Macri, L.M., and Stanek, K.Z. 2002, Astrophys. J. Letters, 569, L15.
* Edge, W.R.T., and Coe, M.J. 2002, MNRAS, in press; astro-ph/0209327.
* Eyer, L. 2002, Acta Astron., 52, 241.
* Kurucz, R.L. 1993, http://cfaku5.harvard.edu/.
* Landolt, A.U. 1992, Astron. J., 104, 372.
* Paczyński, B., Udalski, A., Szymański, M., Kubiak, M., Pietrzyński, G., Soszyński, I., Woźniak, P., and Żebruń, K. 2000, Acta Astron., 49, 319.
* Schechter, P.L., Saha, K., and Mateo, M. 1993, P.A.S.P., 105, 1342.
* Subramaniam, A., and Anupama, G.C. 2002, Astron. Astrophys., 390, 449.
* Szymański, M., and Udalski, A. 1993, Acta Astron., 43, 91.
* Udalski, A., Kubiak, M., and Szymański, M. 1997, Acta Astron., 47, 319.
* Udalski, A., Szymański, M., Kubiak, M., Pietrzyński, G., Woźniak, P., and Żebruń, K. 1998, Acta Astron., 48, 147.
* Udalski, A., Szymański, M., Kubiak, M., Pietrzyński, G., Soszyński, I., Woźniak, P., and Żebruń, K. 2000, Acta Astron., 50, 307.
* Woźniak, P.R., Udalski, A., Szymański, M., Kubiak, M., Pietrzyński, G., Soszyński, I., and Żebruń, K. 2002, Acta Astron., 52, 129.
* Zaritsky, D., Harris, J., Thompson, I.B., Grebel, E.K., and Massey, P. 2002, Astron. J., 123, 855.

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# Centimeter-band Variability in GPS Sources

## 1 Introduction

To investigate the total flux density and polarization properties of GHz-peaked sources, we commenced systematic observations of the 1 Jy Stangellini (\[Stanghellini et al. 1998a\]) sample with the University of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory (UMRAO) 26-meter telescope in November 1999. The class of objects is of particular interest because they are believed to be young sources, primarily based on their small sizes, or, alternatively, sources confined by dense gas in their ambient medium (\[O’Dea 1998\]). Expected class properties from prior VLA and VLBI observations (e.g. \[O’Dea 1998\]) are low level variability and low ($`<1\%`$) fractional linear polarization. Recent VLBA observations at 15 GHz suggest no or hidden cores (\[Stanghellini et al. 2001\]).

The selection criteria for the sample are:
1) declination $`\delta >25^{}`$, galactic latitude $`|b|>10^{}`$;
2) S$`>1`$ Jy at 5 GHz:
3) Turnover frequency in the range $`0.4\nu _{to}6`$ GHz; and spectral index $`\alpha >0.5`$ in the high frequency (presumably optically thin) part of the spectrum ($`S_\nu \nu ^\alpha )`$.
By optical class the objects are a mix of quasars and galaxies. By radio morphology 1/3 of the sample are known or suspected compact symmetric objects (cso), a group identified as exhibiting low variability (\[Fassnacht & Taylor 2001\]).

Thirty-two of the 33 sample members are within the declination limits of the Michigan 26-meter paraboloid. These objects have been observed at least tri-monthly at 4.8, 8.0, and 14.5 GHz for total flux density and linear polarization since November 1999. Eighteen of the sources have been observed for a decade or more with sufficient sampling to identify variability, if present; limited data with ad hoc sampling are available for 9 additional objects; and only 6 sources had not been observed by us prior to November 1999. Twelve objects are currently members of the 2cm VLBA survey MOJAVE (\[Kellermann et al. 1998\]), providing important complementary information on pattern speeds and structural changes. Preliminary results for some sample members indicate relatively slow component speeds (Lister private communication; see also http://www.cv.nrao.edu/2cmsurvey/).

In Figure 1 we compare fractional linear polarization for the GPS sample and for the Pearson-Readhead (hereafter PR) sample (\[Pearson & Readhead 1988\]), a flux and position limited sample; the latter is taken for comparison because it is believed to be representative of extragalactic objects, and insensitive to most selection effects. We have systematically been observing it since 1984 (\[Aller, Aller, & Hughes 2002\]). Only galaxies and QSOs are included for the PR sample since there are no BL Lacs with GPS spectra. Comparison of the distributions confirms that that on average the 4.8 GHz polarization is low in GPS sources relative to the general population of extragalactic objects; a KS test gives a low probability of 0.000034 that these distributions are drawn from the same parent population.

In contrast to the abnormally low fractional polarizations at 4.8 GHz however, several sources show fractional polarization at 14.5 GHz at levels comparable to those in AGNs; in several these are clearly time-variable with time scales of order several years to a decade. As an example, we show in Figure 2, the total flux density and linear polarization light curves for the galaxy, 1358+624, a source classed as a cso by radio morphology. While there is little to no flux variability as expected for objects of this type, a long-term outburst in linear polarization occurred at both 8 and 14.5 GHz during the mid to late 1980s. We find similar behavior, low amplitude variability in total flux and variability in linear polarization at 14.5 and tentatively at 8.0 GHz in the suspected cso, 1117+146.

Plausible mechanisms discussed in the literature to explain low fractional linear polarizations are (\[Stanghellini et al. 1998b\]) Faraday depolarization in the radio-emitting region, or a tangled magnetic field along the line of sight. A third possibility, beam depolarization, has recently been rejected (\[Stanghellini et al. 2001\]). We believe that a tangled magnetic field would not readily account for the frequency-dependent differences in linear polarization we find in our data.

In Figure 3 we show light curves for the QSO 1127-145, a source which has exhibited variability in both total flux and linear polarization. A goal of our program has been to determine whether the GPS spectrum is maintained over decades, or whether for some sources this spectral character is a short-term phase. In the case of 1127-145, the source maintained its GPS spectral shape for nearly 20 years, but in 1999 a large outburst commenced at 14.5 GHz, and the spectrum flattened. Thus, based on its current spectrum, it would not have been classed as a GPS source.

To investigate the nature of the variability in this source, we show in Figure 4 a structure function based on the data shown in Figure 3. Structure functions are useful tools providing two pieces of information. The slope of the linear portion gives information on the noise process responsible for the variability. It is typically found to be $``$1 in AGNs (\[Hughes, Aller, & Aller 1992\]) a result indicative of shot noise. The turnover gives a measure of the characteristic time scale and is typically of order 2 years, with some spread from source to source. In the structure function for this source we find a slope of $`0.57\pm 0.18`$, which does not match any well-studied, ideal noise processes, and a relatively long, frequency-dependent characteristic variability time scale ranging from 4.1 years at 4.8 GHz to over a decade at 8 and 14.5 GHz. The behavior of this structure function illustrates that the nature of the variability is both unusual and complex in this source.

In Figure 5 we show light curves for a second variable source, 2134+004, which has been well-studied with VLBI (e.g. \[Pauliny-Toth et al. 1989\]). Rotation measure mapping (\[Taylor 2000\]) has identified significant Faraday rotation in this source which is highly position-dependent. Our EVPAs have been corrected for Faraday rotation adopting Taylor’s value for component A, one of two nearly-identical unresolved components. This correction brings the EVPAs at the 3 frequencies into agreement at Taylor’s VLBA epoch (1998.58), but at other epochs a wavelength-dependent separation remains which most likely is due to a combination of time-variable opacity and time-variable Faraday rotation. We are, unfortunately, unable to unravel these effects with our single dish measurements.

In Figure 6 we show the light curves for OI 363, a QSO for which our sampling is irregular. While the observations cannot be used to identify the details of the variability, they clearly reveal that the source is variable in both total flux density and fractional linear polarization, and the data are consistent with a variability time scale of order a decade. Note that the GPS spectral shape in maintained during the observing window of two decades.

In Figure 7 we show data for a poorly sampled source which has only been observed with regularity since the start of the program. However, even with this limited sampling, the ordered changes in total flux density since late 1999 are consistent with the presence of low level variability. While the linear polarization is only of order a few percent, this is a source in which we have recently detected relatively high levels of circular polarization ($`0.71\pm 0.07\%`$) in our single dish measurements at 4.8 GHz; CP with a comparable magnitude and sign has also been detected in this source by \[Homan et al. 2001\] ($`0.46\pm 0.06\%`$) using VLBA observations obtained in December 1996, a time period in which we, unfortunately, have no data. The most plausible mechanism for the production of the circular polarization is linear-to-circular conversion in a partially-opaque emitting region.

## 2 Conclusions

Our main conclusions are:
1) Several sample members exhibit variability in total flux with amplitudes comparable to those in AGNs. Of the 18 good-to-well observed sources, 10 show total flux density variations at some level. The characteristic time scales of these variations are typically long compared to other UMRAO program sources.
2) In general the characteristic GPS spectrum is maintained over decades, including times when flux variability is present.
3) The time-averaged fractional linear polarizations at 4.8 GHz are low compared to results based on the Pearson-Readhead sample at 4.8 GHz, confirming that this is a GPS class property.
4) At 14.5 GHz, several sources exhibit higher fractional polarization than at 4.8 GHz which in some sources is time-variable, reaching values as high as 10$`\%`$; 2 confirmed or suspected cso sources exhibit extremely low level variability in total flux while exhibiting well-defined variations in fractional polarization at 14.5 GHz, as illustrated in Figure 2.
5) The frequency-dependence in the EVPA in some sources is consistent with significant Faraday rotation, which may be time-variable.

While the spectral shape is characteristic of a transparent source, both the variability we find and the detection of circular polarization in one class member are most easily explained by the presence of significant opacity in some portion of the jet flow. This hypothesis can best be tested by spectral mapping of selected group members. Hopefully, longer-term observations will answer the questions of whether variability is a property of most, if not all, sample members which are not csos, and, more importantly, of whether the sample is, in fact, a collection of physically-different objects joined together on the basis of their (in some cases) evolving radio spectra.

###### Acknowledgements.

UMRAO is operated with funds from the Department of Astronomy of the University of Michigan.


text:
# 1 INTRODUCTION

## 1 INTRODUCTION

The performances of electrical-substitution radiometers (ESR) depend mainly on low noise temperature control. Such instruments have been developed for various radiometric measurement purposes, including, for example, the measurement of the Stefan-Boltzmann constant1,2, and the long-term monitoring of the solar irradiance3, and are used as primary standards of optical power at national standards laboratories4,5. In these experiments, an optical absorber-receiver is thermally isolated from a temperature regulated heat sink by a weak thermal link and is alternately heated by the unknown radiant power and by the resistive heater (Joule heating). The incident radiant power entering the aperture of the absorber-receiver can be deduced from the measurement of the equivalent electrical power needed to ensure the same temperature rise for the two heating effects. The resolution of the ESR was so far mainly limited by the temperature stability of the receiver. Thus, two temperature controllers, one for the heat sink and the other for the receiver, have been proposed to improve the ESR6. Our work is inscribed in this framework, and we report in this paper on the progress we made on the temperature control of the heat sink using a low noise switched electronics and an optimized analog PID. Furthermore a heat perturbation method is presented to clearly specify the long time limitation of the system.

This paper is arranged as follows. Section 2 describes the experimental setup and preliminary measurements at room temperature. The third section relates a set of improvements and measurements at liquid-nitrogen temperature. In section 4, the perspectives for the ESR performance improvements are presented.

## 2 READ-OUT ELECTRONICS AND EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

### 2.1 Read-out electronics for a standard platinium resistor

The fundamental Johnson noise limitation of a metallic thermistor such as an Industrial Platinium Resistance Thermometer (IPRT), $`100`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ thermistor with $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\alpha }=1/R\times dR/dT=3.85\times 10^3`$ K-1, leads to an rms value of the noise equivalent temperature (NET) of $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\sigma }=4.2`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$Keff within a $`1`$ Hz bandwidth (first order) at $`1`$ mA bias current, or equivalently, $`26`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$Kpp around an ideally stable thermostat at room temperature. The required resolution for the read-out electronics is in the $`10^7`$ range (i.e. $`7^{1/2}`$ digits or $`25`$ bits resolution). The home made read-out electronics presented here was designed to be within a factor $`2`$ of such resolution at low cost. The read-out electronic system is presented in Fig. 1.

An elementary Wheastone DC-bridge (or AC-bridge) is often used in resistance measurements, and lead resistances can be compensated with special bridge connections, as in the “Mueller bridge”7. To improve the temperature measurement, different ways have been investigated in the literature, which decrease the noise equivalent temperature of the system8. Our circuit is derived from low-noise electronics designed for astronomical bolometric measurements. It consists of a square wave bias current source, a low temperature-coefficient resistance, a low-noise preamplifier stage, a lock-in amplifier and a $`2^{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{d}}`$ order Butterworth filter. The periodic bias current avoids some contamination of the useful signal by low frequency electrical noise. The square wave bias is used in order to keep constant the electrical power dissipated in the thermistor, unlike the sine wave bias9. Consequently, the temperature of the thermistor does not oscillate. Indeed, in the sine wave bias case, a modulated applied power, at $`2f_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{o}`$, is dissipated in the thermistor. Moreover, in order to avoid parasitic harmonic components, the modulation frequency $`f_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{o}`$ has to be higher than the bolometer thermal cutoff frequency $`f_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{t}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{h}}`$ ($`f_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{o}f_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{t}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{h}}`$).

The high precision voltage reference AD588 was chosen because of its low output noise, typically $`6`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$Vpp over the $`0.1`$ Hz to $`10`$ Hz frequency ranges, of its long-term stability at ambiant temperature ($`15`$ ppm/$`1000`$ hours) and of its low output voltage drift ($`\pm 2`$ ppm K-1). It was configured to provide a $`\pm 5V`$ reference voltage, noted $`\pm V_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{e}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{f}}`$. A switching electronics follows the voltage reference circuit and then provides the desired square wave voltage at frequency $`f_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{o}`$ around a few kHz. As shown in Fig. 1, the bias voltage is applied to two high precision resistive dividers, one of which includes the high sensitivity thermistor $`R_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{t}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{h}}`$, and the other includes a low TCR resistance $`R`$ ($`\pm 50`$ ppm K-1, a few tens of ohms). It has to be noted that the electrical power dissipated in the thermometer has to be much lower than $`1`$ mW in order to limit self heating effects10. Additionally, the value of the injection resistor, $`R_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{l}`$, has to be very large compared to the thermistor resistance $`R_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{t}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{h}}`$ in order to form a current source11. This injection resistor was fixed at $`6`$ k$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ thus leading to a $`0.83`$ mA current through $`R_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{t}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{h}}`$ ($`100`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ impedance) and $`R`$.

An injection resistor was preferred to a capacitance even if the capacitance is sometimes preferred because it does not generate Johnson noise12. In that case, the capacitance is fed using a triangular wave voltage, which induces a square wave current. This triangular wave voltage may be obtained using an active integrator circuit. Although no Johnson noise takes place through the capacitance, the system stability is dependant on the capacitance and the use of an additional amplifier may also increase the noise level. In order to ensure stability together with the low noise requirement, we therefore decided to use a square wave voltage through the low value thermistor and the low TCR reference resistor $`R`$.

The preamplifier stage is made using an instrumentation amplifier (SSM2017) followed by a lock-in amplifier. The reference signals are applied to the lock-in amplifier built around an AD620 and JFET switching connections. Finally, a Butterworth filter (2nd-order) shapes the useful output signal of the battery-operated power device. Using the $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\alpha }`$ value of an IPRT, the voltage-to-temperature responsivity of the system at the input $`\mathrm{}_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{i}`$ is then $`320`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$V K-1. The white noise around the frequency $`f_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{o}`$ is mainly dominated by the Johnson noise of $`R_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{t}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{h}}`$ and $`R`$. It can be estimated as $`e_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}=\sqrt{2}\sqrt{4k_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{B}TR}`$ with the $`R`$ value chosen close to $`R_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{t}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{h}}`$ at the working temperature. Adding the amplifier noise, we obtain the equivalent noise source $`e_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}2`$ nV Hz-1/2 at room temperature. It follows that the ultimate noise equivalent limit of our system is $`T_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}=6.3`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$K Hz-1/2 (i.e. an rms value $`T_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{e}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{f}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{f}}=\sqrt{\frac{\pi }{2}}T_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}8`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$Keff in a $`1`$ Hz, and a first order bandwith), twice the ideal value for an IPRT.

### 2.2 Read-out electronic characterization

#### 2.2.1 Noise of the system

First, a study of the read-out electronic system where the thermistor was replaced by an other low TCR resistor has been carried out. The system exhibited an excess low frequency noise regim close to a “$`1/f`$” one as clearly seen in the comparative Fig. 11(c). Then, the deduced noise equivalent temperature spectrum (NET) would be comprised between $`6/\sqrt{f}`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$K Hz-1/2 and $`10/\sqrt{f}`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$K Hz-1/2 if an ideal IPRT was used at $`0.83`$ mA. The associated rms value is in the range $`1630`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$Keff, $`2`$ times higher than expected in Sec. 2.1 in the white noise regime. Deviation from the white noise and the $`1/f`$ law in the read-out electronic system could be due to the electronic system temperature that slowly drifts according to the surrounding laboratory temperature. The temperature compensating coefficients were estimated by measuring the electronic boards temperature during heating or cooling the whole electronic systems. Temperature coefficients of the three read-out electronic systems were found to be: $`15.1\pm 3.6\times 10^4`$ V K-1, $`5\pm 2\times 10^4`$ V K-1 and $`7.9\pm 1.4\times 10^4`$ V K-1, respectively. These coefficients are consistent with the observed output drift. Temperature drifts in the range of $`40`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$K s-1 at the PC board level were then estimated. They must be avoided or compensated to minimize the output drifts, which are known to lead to an excess noise differing from a $`1/f`$ regime, with a higher $`1/f^\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}`$ power.

#### 2.2.2 Room temperature measurement tests

The temperature-coefficient resistance (TCR), noted $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\alpha }`$, and the dimensionless slope of the thermometer $`A`$, defined as $`A=d\mathrm{ln}R/d\mathrm{ln}T=\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\alpha }T`$, are generally used to compare different thermometers operated at different temperatures. The Standard Platinium Resistance Thermometer (SPRT) is used to define the ITS90 (International Temperature Scale of 1990) between the triple point of hydrogen ($`13.8023`$ K) and the freezing point of silver ($`1234.94`$ K) with an accuracy of $`\pm 2.0\times 10^3`$ K to $`\pm 7.0\times 10^3`$ K13. However, the strain-free design of a SPRT limits its use in controlled laboratory conditions. In the industrial platinium resistance thermometer (IPRT), the platinium wire is encapsulated within a ceramic housing or a thick film sensor is coated onto a ceramic surface. The protection from the environment is increased with a metal sheath. A Correge IPRT was used in this present work. This class A device is characterized by an accuracy of $`\pm 0.15`$ K at $`273`$ K and an average TCR of $`3.85\times 10^3`$ K-1 (European standard) between $`273.16`$ K to $`373.16`$ K (according to DIN CEI 751 norm). This sensing element has a $`100`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ impedance at $`273.16`$ K (triple point of water). The room temperature setup includes three IPRT thermometers radially set out on a good heat conductor plate (copper), several copper heat shields, and a heater resistance $`R_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{H}`$. A coolant (oil) is used to minimize temperature gradients across the system. A correlation study between two temperature measurements was then possible using this arrangement. The most important parameters of merit of the thermometers we used are gathered in Table 2.

The temperature measurements were made with two read-out electronic systems, each using an IPRT as thermistor. The third IPRT was measured using the conventional four-wire method resistance measurement, performed with an HP3034A multimeter ($`6^{1/2}`$ digits, $`2`$ s integration time). It is hereafter called the reference IPRT thermometer. Responsivity estimations at the output $`\mathrm{}_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{o}=V_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{o}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{u}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{t}}/T`$ were made using the slow dc drift of the temperature cell, assuming that the reference IPRT thermometer is well calibrated (see Fig. 2). Note the good temperature stability: the temperature drift $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ was only $`25`$ mK for $`12000`$ s measurement. Output responsivity for each read-out electronic system was about $`10`$ V K-1.

A fluctuation estimation has been made using a polynomial fit up to the fourth order to remove the main part of the cell temperature drift. The result is shown in Fig. 3. The fitting operation explains the quasi-periodic temperature artifacts evolutions, but the fact that the three responses are still coherent between themselves on Fig. 3 indicates that the resolution of the thermometers is better than the amplitude of the artifact modulation, i.e. $`200`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$K. To better estimate the resolution of the high sensitivity read-out, we made a second fit limited to $`2000`$ s. A result is shown Fig. 4. This numerical analysis shows that our read-out system, connected to standard IPRT is compatible with a temperature resolution of $`25`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$Keff over a $`2000`$ s integration time. This value appears to be rather higher than that what was expected from the theoretical white noise level as introduced in Sec. 2-1 ($`8`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$Keff). This is due to the excess low frequency noise below $`1`$ Hz. We note that the final estimation of noise is consistent with the value estimated in subsection 2.2.1 after measurements with a low TCR resistor. This shows that the excess noise of the IPRT is likely not seen in this frequency range. Finally we also note that for a short integration time ($`<1s`$), the resolution obtained is close to the theoretical one below $`10`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$K Hz-1/2. Such values (on short integration time) were also obtained by Dupuis *et al.*14, but for $`100`$ k$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ thermistors, the intrinsic voltage noise of which were $`31.6`$ times higher than the $`100`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ thermistor used in this study.

In order to reduce the temperature drifts during long time measurements, another experimental setup at liquid-nitrogen temperature was built in association with a home-made optimized PID controller which will be described in the next section.

## 3 LOW TEMPERATURE SAMPLE HOLDER AND EXPERIMENTS

### 3.1 Sample holder design

The sample holder depicted in Fig. 5 was designed in order to improve long time temperature measurements by introducing an optimized temperature control. It is known that the temperature control of massive systems, even at temperature as low as $`77`$ K, can be made difficult because of the inherent time delay between the heat production (or heat removing) and the temperature rise (or temperature decrease) of the sample. It follows that the overall gain of the servo loop cannot be made arbitrarily large in order to ensure a sufficient stability (Nyquist criterion). The present sample holder will serve as the temperature controlled heat sink of a future active cavity radiometer (ACR). Its mass must be much higher than the receiver one, say $`10^3`$, as in the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA) prototype, in order to act as a heat sink10. We then chose a mass of $`20`$ mg for the receiver and $`20`$ g for the sample holder. In order to minimize the heat travel between heating resistor and the thermometers glued on the copper plate, the heating resistor, noted $`R_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{H}_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{1}}`$, was wound in a spiral grooved at the rear of the plate. The resulting delay $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\tau }_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{D}`$ is $`0.4`$ s. A second heating resistor, noted $`R_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{H}_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{2}}`$, was wound, intertwined and identical to the first one. It constitutes an easy and reproducible way of applying an accurate heat perturbation to the system, either in open loop or closed loop configuration. The use of this auxillary input led to a very convenient identification of the parameters of the servo-loop models and greatly helped the full characterization of the system. A large perturbation in the open loop configuration was then applied in order to determine the thermal model parameters gathered in Table $`2`$. They are those of a first order thermal circuit with a small delay. Using these values and the signal characteristics of our read-out electronic system, we built a SPICE model in order to derive a set of parameters for the PID controller feedback circuit.

### 3.2 Full system characterization and performances

The schematic of the experimental arrangement used to fully characterize the temperature control of the sample holder is reported in Fig. 6. We used three high TCR resistors made using a $`200`$ nm thick high quality $`YBa_2Cu_3O_{7\delta }`$ (YBCO) film, patterned in $`40\times 600`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$m2 strips. Their $`R`$ versus $`T`$ characteristics and their derivatives are plotted in Fig. 7. They exhibit the same critical temperature and very similar shapes. One of these thermometers was used to sense the temperature in the servo loop, the two others giving two independant observations of the temperature evolution of the copper plate. Finally, a heat perturbation could be easily applied by means of the second heating resistor $`R_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{H}_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{2}}`$. Data plotted in Fig. 8 show examples of this perturbation method with a large signal applied on $`R_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{H}_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{2}}`$. Decreasing the voltage oscillation amplitude enables the recording of small temperature oscillations in the two high sensitivity thermometers as shown in Fig. 9. These recordings, performed in longer measuring times, were used to calculate the noise spectra of our system. The frequency doubling in Fig. 8 is of course associated with the squaring of the applied voltage producing the Joule heating $`V^2/R_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{H}_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{2}}`$. From these data, it is easy to extract the rejection efficiency of the servo loop at these frequencies for the heat perturbations coupled to the sample holder. We find a value of $`400`$ at DC. This means that the stability of the sample holder temperature is improved by $`400`$ by closing the loop, and because the temperature drifts can be $`70`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$K s-1 in open loop, we are expecting a temperature stability of $`0.175`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$K s-1. Moreover, the YBCO thermistors have a much higher sensitivity than the platinium ones, as shown in Table $`1`$, leading to a responsivity $`\mathrm{}_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{i}42`$ mV K-1 at $`0.83`$ mA bias current. It follows that the temperature drifts occuring on the PC board will have a relative effect $`200`$ times lower than that obtained using an IPRT. Then, considering the Johnson noise of the YBCO thermistors only, the ideal noise floor would be about $`10`$ nKeff in a $`1`$ Hz bandwidth. If the read-out electronics is not ideal, the noise floor would be $`30`$ nKeff. However, the overall performances are limited by the excess low frequency noise of the YBCO thermistors, the level of which is generally dependent on microstructural properties. Fig. 10 shows a recording at the output of two high sensitivity thermometers during a measuring time of $`400`$ s. They are clearly correlated, and show a mean temperature drift of $`87`$ nK s-1. This latter value is consistent with the expected one, because the temperature fluctuations and drifts of the liquid-nitrogen bath are likely associated with the fluctuations and drifts of the atmospheric pressure with a maximum rate of the order of $`1`$ Pa s-1 on windy days and a conversion coefficient of $`83`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$K Pa-1 from Clapeyron’s law15. Finally, using the two simultaneous records of Fig. 10, we also plotted the instantaneous difference between the two thermometers, in order to get an estimation of the actual rms noise of the thermometers. We have got a standard deviation $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\sigma }=2.8`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$Keff during this integration time. This value is much higher than the ideal one obtained using only the Johnson noise assumption. It clearly indicates that the noise process in our YBCO samples, at the superconducting transition, is dominated by excess low frequency fluctuations of the resistance. The associated spectrum has been plotted in Fig. 11. Note that the calibration of this spectrum was conveniently made using a reference signal at $`5`$ mHz obtained with a known applied heat perturbation. Its amplitude was $`95`$ mV, producing a temperature oscillation of the sample holder of $`30`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$Kpp in closed loop operation (see Fig. 9). However, despite this large excess noise, we show in the following section that these performances are still useful to design an ACR.

## 4 ESR PERSPECTIVES

The achieved low noise temperature control could be used to regulate the temperature of the heat sink of the ESR. The NIST prototype described by Rice *et al.*10 will be considered below as an example. In order to estimate the performances, we will consider the same conditions as those used in the NIST prototype. The ESR cavity is supposed to receive radiant flux ranging from the microwatt level to the milliwatt, coming from an extended-source blackbody at $`T=300`$ K. It was shown that the measurement could be done with a contribution to the standard random uncertainty below $`20`$ nW. As explained in Sec. 3.1, we reduced the mass of the heat sink, which implies the reduction of that of the receiver down to $`20`$ mg. This condition is thought to be very well fulfilled using a plane membrane receiver and an integrating sphere above it. To derive our following noise calculations, we assume that the incident radiation $`P_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{i}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}}`$, to be converted in electrical power $`P_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{C}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}`$ in order to keep the receiver at constant temperature, is chopped at a frequency $`f_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{o}=10`$ Hz. The simple electrothermal circuit we used to describe the effects of thermometer noise on the receiver is reported in Fig. 12 where $`G_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}`$ and $`C_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}`$ are the ESR thermal conductance and thermal capacitance, respectively. We introduced the associated noise sources to three contributions having roughly the same order of magnitude:

\- $`T_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}(f),`$ which is the spectral density of the temperature fluctuations of the heat sink. It is shown from $`10^4`$ Hz to $`10^1`$ Hz in Fig. 11 (b). Above $`10^1`$ Hz the servo loop of the heat sink is not suitable anymore, and we just extrapolated the quasi $`1/f^2`$ $`T_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}^2(f)`$ dependance. The spectral density $`T_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}(f)`$ can be roughly fitted by $`T_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}(f)=8.10^7f^{0,9}`$ K Hz-1/2 from Fig. 11, we estimated its value at $`10`$ Hz to be about $`100`$ nK Hz-1/2.

\- $`T_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n},\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}(f),`$ which is the spectral density of the YBCO thermometer attached to the ESR. It would act as the error detector of the servo loop driving the ESR cavity. Because we intend to use the same material and detecting electronics as that of the heat sink, we adopt the same spectral density $`T_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n},\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}(f)=T_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}(f)`$,which should hold up to about $`100`$ Hz, before joining the Johnson level. As a matter of fact, recordings of the thermometer output, using a wide opening ($`300`$ Hz) of the lock-in amplifier unit, led to this spectral density.

\- $`T_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n},\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{A}}(f)`$, which is the equivalent noise associated with the amplifier. At $`10`$ Hz, a reasonable value is given by the ratio of the voltage noise $`e_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{A}}1`$ nV Hz-1/2 of the amplifier to the thermometer responsitivity $`\mathrm{}_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{i}42`$ mV K-1 at $`0.83`$ mA bias.

Furthermore, in the circuit of Fig. 12, $`S`$ represents the thermometer sensitivity including gain (in V K-1). We assume $`S=100`$ V K-1 and AOP is an operational amplifier, closing the servo loop and feeding the heating resistor $`R_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{H}`$ of the ESR cavity. Assuming the AOP ideal, the inversing operational amplifier input writes $`V_{}=V_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{F}}`$, implying the thermometer circuit input to be $`V_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{F}}/S`$. Standard circuit analysis leads to:

$$\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{T}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{(}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{f}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{)}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{=}\frac{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{T}_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{(}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{f}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{)}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{G}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{+}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{P}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{i}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{+}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{P}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{C}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}}{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{G}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{+}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{j}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{C}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\omega }}$$
(1)
where the heat flow between the thermometer and the ESR body is neglected. Finally, The “Kirchhoff” law gives:

$$\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{T}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{(}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{f}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{)}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{+}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{T}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{,}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{(}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{f}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{)}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{+}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{T}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{,}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{A}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{(}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{f}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{)}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{=}\frac{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{V}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{F}}}{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}}$$
(2)
The deduced feedback power is written in two parts:

$$\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{P}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{C}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{+}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{P}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{i}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{=}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{(}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{G}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{+}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{j}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{C}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\omega }\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{)}\frac{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{V}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{F}}}{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}}$$
(3)
is the ideal part, if we consider that there is no noise, and:

$$\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{P}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{C}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{,}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{=}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{G}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{[}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{(}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{T}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{,}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{(}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{f}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{)}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{+}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{T}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{,}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{A}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{(}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{f}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{)}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{)}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{(}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{1}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{+}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{j}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\tau }_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\omega }\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{)}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{+}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{T}_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{(}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{f}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{)}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{]}$$
(4)
is the noisy feedback power.

In the bandwidth of the ESR any change in $`P_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{i}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}}`$ will induce a change in $`P_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{C}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}`$ in order to keep the receiver temperature constant and $`P_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{C}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}`$ accounts for the output signal. The second part accounts for the noise on the feedback power, the minus sign indicating that this part of the feedback power reacts so as to balance the various noise sources. Eq. 4 is deduced from a small signal analysis applied to Eq. 2, i.e. by nulling its right member, and to Eq. 1, i.e. with $`P_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{i}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}}=0`$. Assuming the noise sources to be uncorrelated we get the final spectral noise density of $`P_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{C}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R},\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}}`$:

$$\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\left|}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{P}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{C}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{,}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\right|}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{=}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{G}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\times }\sqrt{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{T}_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}^\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{2}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{(}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{f}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{)}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{+}\frac{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{T}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{,}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{A}}^\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{2}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{(}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{f}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{)}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{+}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{T}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{,}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}^\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{2}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{(}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{f}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{)}}{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{1}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{+}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{j}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\tau }_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}^\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{2}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\omega }^\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{2}}}$$
(5)
We may now use the values attached to the noise sources to estimate whether or not we fulfill the ESR requirements. For clarity, we examine independently the effects of $`T_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}^2(f)`$ and $`T_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n},\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}^2(f)+T_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n},\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{A}}^2(f)`$. The numerical values are calculated at a chopping frequency of $`10`$ Hz, assuming a measuring time of $`250`$ s with a first order post filtering. Before performing these calculations we need to know the numerical value of the thermal conductance $`G_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}`$. The latter is related to the dynamic range of the ESR, i.e., the largest input signal $`P_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{i}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n},\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{M}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{a}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{x}}`$ that can be measured. In the chopped mode of the incoming power $`P_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{i}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}}`$, the feedback power will oscillate between the on-off states of $`P_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{i}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}}`$, leading to the condition of Eq. 6 to be fulfilled by $`G_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}`$:

$$\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{G}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{=}\frac{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\times }\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{P}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{i}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{,}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{M}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{A}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{X}}}{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{V}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{F}}}$$
(6)
Choosing $`P_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{i}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n},\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{M}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{A}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{X}}=10`$ mW, $`V_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{F}}=10`$ V, $`S=100`$ V K-1 gives $`G_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}=100`$ mW K-1. Such a thermal conductance value can reasonably be achieved at $`90`$ K using silicon micromachining techniques16,17: for calculations we assumed a $`1030`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$m thick membrane of $`3\times 3`$ mm2 area. It follows that the noise associated with that of the heat sink should be $`G_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\times T_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}(10`$ Hz$`)`$ of the order of $`10^8`$ W Hz-1/2, i.e., a standard deviation of the order $`800`$ pWeff with a measuring time of $`250`$ s. To estimate the noise associated with that of the receiver thermometer we need to know the receiver time constant. Because of the small active volume of the receiver and of the high thermal conductance value, the thermal time constant would be much shorter than that of the NIST prototype, about $`0.1`$ ms at $`90`$ K. We then deduce the order of magnitude of the associated noise to be close to $`G_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}\times T_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n},\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}(10Hz)/2\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\pi }1.6`$ nW Hz<sup>-1/2</sup>, which means an rms value of $`130`$ pW<sub>eff</sub> for $`250`$ s observing time. We then conclude that these estimated values, although estimated using a rough model, are very promising, within an order of magnitude below the demonstrated values by Rice *et al.*10. Similar results were presented by Libonate and Foukal18, reporting a root-mean-square noise level of $`1.6`$ nW and a $`30`$ s time measurement for an allowable input-power level of up to $`2`$ mW. These experimental results are of the same order of magnitude as ours, calculated for an input-power level of up to $`10`$ mW. No specific optimization in order to reduce the excess noise in our YBCO films was made, which explains why the noise level is rather large, if compared to other works17,19. As shown by Neff *et al.*17, the use of a thin gold layer onto the YBCO layer can lead to very low noise equivalent temperature at $`10`$ Hz. The use of such levels in our model would have lead to dramatic reduction of the noise floor of the sample holder, which means improvements in the ESR performances. We would like to point out that the use of a small membrane and an integrating sphere does not allow a proper primary radiometer operation, but the very short time constant would permit the use of a much higher shopping frequency. This means working conditions in the white noise domain of the YBCO sensors, implying a possible reduction of two orders of magnitude of the noise floor level, which appear still very attractive. Such a system would then have performances close to the liquid-helium-cooled ESR of Reintsema *et al.*20. Finally, to eliminate the problem of the integrating sphere, we have done preliminary calculations in order to design a $`1`$ cm aperture, $`1.5`$ cm long pyramidal cavity in silicon, with wall thicknesses ranging between $`5`$ to $`50`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$m. A high conductance value of $`100`$ mW K-1 is feasible together with a time constant of the order of $`0.1`$ s. Such a system would then be very attractive because it could include full-integrated heating resistors and thermometers. Thus correlation techniques and a perturbation heating method could be used as well to improve model identification and signal processing.

## 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work would not have been possible without the technical contributions of N. Ch enne and S. Lebargy. We would like to thank Y. Monfort and M. Lam Chok Sing for many stimulating conversations.

## References

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2A. C. Parr, NIST Tech. Note 1421 (1996)

3J.P. Rice, S.R. Lorentz and T.M. Jung, Proc. 10th Conf. on Atmospheric Radiation*,* Amer. Meteor. Soc., 85 (1999)

4N. P. Fox, Metrologia 37, 507 (2000)

5C. C. Hoyt and P. V. Foukal, Metrologia 28, 163 (1991)

6J.P. Rice and Z.M. Zhang, NIST Tech. Note 1414 (1996)

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8P.R.N. Childs, J.R. Greenwood and C.A. Long, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 71, 2959 (2000)

9A.E. Lange, S.E. Church, P.D. Mauskopf, V. Hristov, J.J. Bock, H.M. DelCastillo, J. Beeman, P.A.R Ade and M.J. Griffin, Proc. 30th ESLAB Symp., 105 (1996)

10J.P. Rice, S.R. Lorentz, R.U. Datla, L.R. Vale, D.A. Rudman, M. Lam Chok Sing and D. Robbes, Metrologia 35, 289 (1998)

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12S. Gaertner, A. Beno t, J.M. Lamarre, M. Giard, J.L. Bret, J.P. Chabaud, F.X. D sert, J.P. Faure, G. Jegoudez, J. Land , J. Leblanc, J.P. Lepeltier, J. Narbonne, M. Piat, R. Pons, G. Serra and G. Simiand, A.&A. Suppl. Ser. 126, 151 (1997)

13H. Preston-Thomas, Metrologia 27, 3 (1990)

14P. Dupuis and C. Eug ne, Proc. 6th IMEKO TC-4 Symposium, 309 (1993)

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16L. M chin, J.C. Vill gier and D. Bloyet, J. Appl. Phys. 81, 7039 (1997)

17H. Neff, I. A. Khrebtov, A. D. Tkachenko, E. SteinbeiB, W. Michalke, O. K. Semchinova, T. Heidenblut and J. Laukemper, Thin Solid Films 324, 230 (1998)

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20C. D. Reintsema, J. A. Koch and E. N. Grossman, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 69, 152 (1997)

## Tables

## Figures captions

FIG. 1. Read-out electronic system: a square wave voltage is applied to two voltage dividers, one includes the thermistor $`R_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{t}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{h}}`$, the other includes a low TCR resistance. A true differential amplifier (SSM2017) followed by a lock-in amplifier and a Butterworth filter (2nd-order) shapes the useful output signal of the battery-operated power system.

FIG. 2. Simultaneous temperature evolution of two read-out electronic systems (curves b and c), each using an IPRT sensor as thermistor: the slow temperature drift enables the evaluation of the responsivity $`\mathrm{}`$ . A reference IPRT thermometer (curve a) is used to calibrate the temperature deviation.

FIG. 3. Temperature measurements after the substraction of the main temperature drift, showing the correlation between the three thermometer responses: read-out electronic systems, each using an IPRT as thermistor (symbols), and a smoothing fit of reference IPRT thermometer (line)

FIG. 4. Fluctuation temperature during $`2000`$ s after a linear fit, measured with two read-out electronic systems each using an IPRT as thermistor. A standard deviation $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\sigma }`$ of $`25`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$K is demonstrated (for system II). A $`100`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$K maximal temperature difference is observed between the two thermometer read-outs.

FIG. 5. The liquid-nitrogen temperature measurement setup: a reference IPRT thermometer and YBCO thin film thermometers are glued on the copper sample holder. Two heating resistors $`R_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{H}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{1}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{,}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{2}}}=30`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ were made using constantan wires and distributed evenly across the sample holder cross-section.

FIG. 6. Schematic of the home-made PID controller: the three boxes named P, I and D depict the functions proportional, integral and derivative, respectively. The temperature measurements were made with three read-out electronic systems, each using an YBCO thermometer: one was used for regulation purpose (thermistor C) and two for correlation investigations (thermistors A and B). Two heating resistors $`R_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{H}_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{1}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{,}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{2}}}=30`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ were made using constantan wire.

FIG. 7. Resistances $`R`$ (closed symbols) and their derivative $`dR/dT`$ (opened symbols) as a function of temperature $`T`$ for three high resolution YBCO thermometers at $`1`$ mA bias.

FIG. 8. A sine wave voltage, called perturbation heating, is applied to the heating resistor $`R_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{H}_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{1}}`$(curve a). The PID output reacts as shown in curve b (note the frequency doubling). The resulting temperature deviation is measured by the two read-out electronic systems, each using an YBCO thermometer (curves c and d, right axis), which show very similar responses.

FIG. 9. Thermometric responses of the read-out electronic systems associated with a low temperature oscillation provided by a $`5`$ mHz perturbation heating ($`95`$ mV amplitude) applied to the sample holder.

FIG. 10. Temperature measurement without perturbation signals using two read-out electronic systems, each using an YBCO thermometer : the two temperature deviation are plotted (left axis). The instantaneous difference (right axis) gives an estimation of the actual rms noise of the thermometers. For a $`400`$ s measurement, a standard deviation equivalent of $`2.8`$ $`\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{\mu }`$Keff is obtained.

FIG. 11. Input spectral noise density $`e_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}`$ and noise equivalent temperature (NET) $`T_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}`$ for a read-out electronic system without thermistor (curve c) and with an YBCO film (curve b) as well as the theoretical white noise value (curve d) are plotted. The NET of the reference IPRT thermometer is reported for comparison (curve a on right axis only).

FIG. 12. Simple electrothermal circuit used to describe the effects of thermometer noise on the receiver: $`G_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}`$ et $`C_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}`$ are the ESR thermal conductance and thermal capacitance, respectively, $`P_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{i}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}}`$ and $`P_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{C}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}`$ are the incident radiation and the electrical power, respectively. $`T_\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n}(f)`$ is the spectral density of the temperature fluctuations of the heat sink. $`T_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n},\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{E}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{S}\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{R}}(f)`$ is the spectral density of the YBCO thermometer attached to the ESR. $`T_{\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{n},\textcolor[rgb]{0,0,0}{A}}(f)`$ is the noise equivalent temperature associated with the amplifier.