Measurement of temperature and temperature gradient in millimeter samples by chlorine NQR

A mini-thermometer based on the 35Cl nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) frequency temperature dependence in the chlorates KClO3 and NaClO3 was built and successfully tested by measuring temperature and temperature gradient at 77 K and higher in about 100 mm3 active volume of a mini Joule-Thomson refrigerator. In the design of the tank-circuit coil, an array of small coils connected in series enabled us (a) to achieve a suitable ratio of inductance to capacity in the NQR spectrometer input tank circuit, (b) to use a single crystal of KClO3 or NaClO3 (of 1-2 mm3 size) in one coil as a mini-thermometer with a resolution of 0.03 K and (c) to construct a system for measuring temperature gradients when the spatial coordinates of each chlorate single crystal within an individual coil are known. (orig.)