Comptes Rendus
no. 1-2
The new International System of Units / Le nouveau Système international d'unités
The Kibble balance and the kilogram
[La balance de Kibble et le kilogramme]
Stephan Schlamminger1  ; Darine Haddad1
1 NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA
Comptes Rendus. Physique, Volume 20 (2019) no. 1-2, pp. 55-63.

Bryan Kibble a inventé la balance du watt en 1975 pour améliorer la réalisation de l'unité de courant électrique, l'ampère. Après la découverte de l'effet Hall quantique en 1980 par Klaus von Klitzing, conjointement avec un autre effet quantique prédit par Josephson, cet instrument mécanique peut être utilisé pour mesurer la constante de Planck h. Quinn, Mills, Williams, Taylor et Mohr ont proposé d'utiliser la balance de Kibble pour réaliser l'unité de masse, le kilogramme, en fixant la valeur numérique de la constante de Planck. Depuis 2017, la balance du watt a été renomée « balance de Kibble » pour honorer son inventeur, décédé en 2016. Cet article décrit la balance de Kibble ainsi que son rôle dans la redéfinition de l'unité de masse, et présente de futures perspectives.

Dr. Bryan Kibble invented the watt balance in 1975 to improve the realization of the unit for electrical current, the ampere. With the discovery of the Quantum Hall effect in 1980 by Dr. Klaus von Klitzing and in conjunction with the previously predicted Josephson effect, this mechanical apparatus could be used to measure the Planck constant h. Following a proposal by Quinn, Mills, Williams, Taylor, and Mohr, the Kibble balance can be used to realize the unit of mass, the kilogram, by fixing the numerical value of Planck's constant. In 2017, the watt balance was renamed to the Kibble balance to honor the inventor, who passed in 2016. This article explains the Kibble balance, its role in the redefinition of the unit of mass, and attempts an outlook of the future.

Publié le :
DOI : 10.1016/j.crhy.2018.11.006
Keywords: Unit of mass, Kilogram, Planck constant, Kibble balance, Revised SI, Josephson effect, Quantum Hall effect
Mot clés : Unité de masse, Kilogramme, Constante de Planck, Balance de Kibble, Révision du SI, Effet Josephson, Effet Hall quantique
Stephan Schlamminger 1 ; Darine Haddad 1

1 NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA 
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Stephan Schlamminger; Darine Haddad. The Kibble balance and the kilogram. Comptes Rendus. Physique, Volume 20 (2019) no. 1-2, pp. 55-63. doi : 10.1016/j.crhy.2018.11.006. https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/physique/articles/10.1016/j.crhy.2018.11.006/

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