27 research outputs found
Shot noise in mesoscopic systems
This is a review of shot noise, the time-dependent fluctuations in the
electrical current due to the discreteness of the electron charge, in small
conductors. The shot-noise power can be smaller than that of a Poisson process
as a result of correlations in the electron transmission imposed by the Pauli
principle. This suppression takes on simple universal values in a symmetric
double-barrier junction (suppression factor 1/2), a disordered metal (factor
1/3), and a chaotic cavity (factor 1/4). Loss of phase coherence has no effect
on this shot-noise suppression, while thermalization of the electrons due to
electron-electron scattering increases the shot noise slightly. Sub-Poissonian
shot noise has been observed experimentally. So far unobserved phenomena
involve the interplay of shot noise with the Aharonov-Bohm effect, Andreev
reflection, and the fractional quantum Hall effect.Comment: 37 pages, Latex, 10 figures (eps). To be published in "Mesoscopic
Electron Transport," edited by L. P. Kouwenhoven, G. Schoen, and L. L. Sohn,
NATO ASI Series E (Kluwer Academic Publishing, Dordrecht