The 1990 NIST scales of thermal radiometry

Abstract

Following an absolute NIST measurement of the freezing temperature of gold and the adoption of the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90), NIST has adopted new measurement scales for the calibration services based on thermal radiometry. In this paper, the new scales are defined and compared to the ITS-90, and the effects of the scale changes on NIST measurement services in optical pyrometry, radiometry, and photometry are assessed quantitatively. The changes in reported calibration values are within quoted uncertainties, and have resulted in small improvements in accuracy and better consistency with other radiometric scales.