title: Shot noise suppression at room temperature in atomic-scale Au junctions.
abstract: Shot noise encodes additional information not directly inferable from simple electronic transport measurements. Previous measurements in atomic-scale metal junctions at cryogenic temperatures have shown suppression of the shot noise at particular conductance values. This suppression demonstrates that transport in these structures proceeds via discrete quantum channels. Using a high-frequency technique, we simultaneously acquire noise data and conductance histograms in Au junctions at room temperature and ambient conditions. We observe noise suppression at up to three conductance quanta, with possible indications of current-induced local heating and 1/f noise in the contact region at high biases. These measurements demonstrate the quantum character of transport at room temperature at the atomic scale. This technique provides an additional tool for studying dissipation and correlations in nanodevices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Wheeler
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Russom
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: N S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Natelson
mesh_terms: D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D011789:Quantum Theory; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D006046:Gold