Rapid contactless thermometry with submilli-Kelvin resolution

Abstract

We present a contactless method of detecting small changes in the surface temperature of metallic samples over a short time period. The thermometry method incorporates a contactless heater and simplifies sample preparation requirements for calorimetric measurements. We demonstrate that we can measure small temperature shifts (250μK) in 5ms at midrange temperatures (155K). This method does not serve as a conventional thermometer but as an in situ thermometer useful for narrow temperature ranges, such as the region of a phase transition (often exploited in bolometers). The manganite material Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3 was chosen as a test material for our experiments because it is a well characterized material where resistivity and magnetization [Kuwakara et al., Science 270, 961 (1995)] and thermal conductivity [Kim et al., American Physical Society March Meeting, W24.009 (2004)] have been previously measured and the material undergoes a metal-insulator transition.