Time-resolved measurements of thermodynamic fluctuations of the particle number in a nondegenerate Fermi gas.
We report on time-resolved measurements of thermodynamic fluctuations in the number of particles in a nondegenerate Fermi gas. The gas is comprised of thermal quasiparticles, confined in a superconducting Al box by large-gap Ta leads. The average number of quasiparticles is about 10(5). This number fluctuates due to quasiparticle generation and recombination. The number is measured from the tunneling current through a barrier that bisects the box. The recombination time is independently measured by single-photon excitation and agrees with the frequency dependence of the fluctuations.
Wilson
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Departments of Applied Physics and Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8284, USA.
Frunzio
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Prober
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