A Compact Magnet System for the Tsinghua Tabletop Kibble Balance

Although the so-called magnetic geometrical factor, Bl, of a Kibble balance does not appear in the Kibble equations, it offers the precision link between electrical and mechanical quantities and furthers a quasiquantum traceability path for mass metrology. This feature makes the magnet system, supplying the Bl in Kibble equations, play a core role in Kibble balances. Following the open-hardware idea, we report here on the design, manufacture, assembly, optimization, and finally performance of a compact magnet system for the Tsinghua tabletop Kibble balance. Notably, the magnet system showcased in this study facilitates a straightforward upper levitation of splitting through a streamlined mechanism guide, substantially enhancing the ease of open and close operations. Experimental tests show the realized magnet systems can yield a high Bl value (e.g., 400 Tm for a bifilar coil and 800 Tm for a single coil with a wire gauge of 0.2 mm) meanwhile a low volume/weight (40 kg), thanks to the uniformity improvement of magnetic profiles. Furthermore, important parameters related to systematic effects, such as the current effect, are checked, aiming for a final mass-realization accuracy at the <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10^{-8}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> level.