Experimental test of the high-frequency quantum shot noise theory in a quantum point contact

Phys Rev Lett. 2007 Dec 7;99(23):236803. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.236803. Epub 2007 Dec 5.

Abstract

We report on direct measurements of the electronic shot noise of a quantum point contact at frequencies nu in the range 4-8 GHz. The very small energy scale used ensures energy independent transmissions of the few transmitted electronic modes and their accurate knowledge. Both the thermal energy and the quantum point contact drain-source voltage V_{ds} are comparable to the photon energy hnu leading to observation of the shot noise suppression when V_{ds}<hnu/e. Our measurements provide the first complete test of the finite frequency shot noise scattering theory without adjustable parameters.