title: Time-resolved measurements of thermodynamic fluctuations of the particle number in a nondegenerate Fermi gas.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Applied Physics and Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8284, USA.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Frunzio
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Prober