title: Local noise in a diffusive conductor.
abstract: The control and measurement of local non-equilibrium configurations is of utmost importance in applications on energy harvesting, thermoelectrics and heat management in nano-electronics. This challenging task can be achieved with the help of various local probes, prominent examples including superconducting or quantum dot based tunnel junctions, classical and quantum resistors, and Raman thermography. Beyond time-averaged properties, valuable information can also be gained from spontaneous fluctuations of current (noise). From these perspective, however, a fundamental constraint is set by current conservation, which makes noise a characteristic of the whole conductor, rather than some part of it. Here we demonstrate how to remove this obstacle and pick up a local noise temperature of a current biased diffusive conductor with the help of a miniature noise probe. This approach is virtually noninvasive for the electronic energy distributions and extends primary local measurements towards strongly non-equilibrium regimes.
authors.affiliation: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny, 141700, Russia.|Institute of Solid State Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142432 Chernogolovka, Russia.
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Tikhonov
authors.affiliation: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny, 141700, Russia.|Institute of Solid State Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142432 Chernogolovka, Russia.
authors.forename: D V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Shovkun
authors.affiliation: NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze - CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza S. Silvestro 12, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ercolani
authors.affiliation: NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze - CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza S. Silvestro 12, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rossella
authors.affiliation: NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze - CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza S. Silvestro 12, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rocci
authors.affiliation: NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze - CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza S. Silvestro 12, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sorba
authors.affiliation: NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze - CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza S. Silvestro 12, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roddaro
authors.affiliation: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny, 141700, Russia.|Institute of Solid State Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142432 Chernogolovka, Russia.
authors.forename: V S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Khrapai