Calibration of Cryogenic Thermometers for the LHC

6000 cryogenic temperature sensors of resistive type covering the range from room temperature down to 1.6 K are installed on the LHC machine. In order to meet the stringent requirements on temperature control of the superconducting magnets, each single sensor needs to be calibrated individually. In the framework of a special contribution, IPN (Institut de Physique Nucléaire) in Orsay, France built and operated a calibration facility with a throughput of 80 thermometers per week. After reception from the manufacturer, the thermometer is first assembled onto a support specific to the measurement environment, and then thermally cycled ten times and calibrated at least once from 1.6 to 300 K. The procedure for each of these interventions includes various measurements and the acquired data is recorded in an ORACLE®-database. Furthermore random calibrations on some samples are executed at CERN to crosscheck the coherence between the approximation data obtained by both IPN and CERN. In the range of 1.5 K to 30 K, the calibration apparatuses at IPN and CERN are traceable to standards maintained in a national metrological laboratory by using a set of rhodium-iron temperature sensors of metrological quality. This paper presents the calibration procedure, the quality assurance applied, the results of the calibration campaigns and the return of experience.