Energy resolution of electronic states delivered by Pauli exclusion and shot noise

E. S. Tikhonov, A. O. Denisov, S. U. Piatrusha, I. N. Khrapach, J. P. Pekola, B. Karimi, R. N. Jabdaraghi, V. S. Khrapai

Published 2020-01-21Version 1

Conventional transport-based spectroscopy of the non-equilibrium electronic states is achieved via an energy-selective sensor. Here we focus on a fundamentally different approach, which relies solely on the fermionic statistics of the electrons. The effect of Pauli's correlations between the electrons is non-vanishing in spontaneous current fluctuations permitting local measurement of the electronic energy distribution (ED) via shot noise. We demonstrate the power of this approach measuring the local ED in a biased diffusive metallic wire by means of a normal metal tunnel junction. Working in the ohmic regime of the tunnel junction we are able to measure the usual double-step ED with the energy resolution limited by the bath temperature. The observed evolution of the ED in external magnetic field allows the measurement of the inelastic relaxation time mediated by a well-known effect of unintentional magnetic disorder.