M. J. M. de Jong, C. W. J. Beenakker
Published 1996-11-19Version 1
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.
Comments: 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)
Journal: "Mesoscopic Electron Transport," edited by L.L. Sohn, L.P. Kouwenhoven, and G. Schoen, NATO ASI Series Vol. 345 (Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1997), pp. 225-258.
Semicircle: An exact relation in the Integer and Fractional Quantum Hall Effect
Spin Polarization of the 12/5 Fractional Quantum Hall Effect
The Fractional Quantum Hall Effect of Tachyons in a Topological Insulator Junction
