title: Emission of microwave photon pairs by a tunnel junction.
abstract: We report the observation of photon pairs in the photoassisted shot noise of a tunnel junction in the quantum regime at very high frequency and very low temperature. We have measured the fluctuations of the noise power generated by the junction at two different frequencies, f(1) = 4.4 and f(2) = 7.2 GHz, while driving the junction with a microwave excitation of frequency f(0) = f(1) + f(2). We observe clear correlations between the fluctuations of the two noise powers even when the mean photon number per measurement is much smaller than one. This is strong evidence for photons being emitted in pairs. We also demonstrate that the electromagnetic field generated by the junction exhibits two-mode amplitude squeezing, a proof of its nonclassicality. The data agree very well with predictions based on the fourth cumulant of the current fluctuations generated by the junction.
authors.affiliation: Département de Physique, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada J1K 2R1.
authors.forename: Jean-Charles
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Forgues
authors.affiliation: Département de Physique, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada J1K 2R1.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lupien
authors.affiliation: Département de Physique, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada J1K 2R1.
authors.forename: Bertrand
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Reulet