Distribution of current fluctuations in a bistable conductor

TL;DR

This paper experimentally measures the full distribution of current fluctuations in a bistable single-electron transistor, confirming theoretical predictions and exploring fluctuation relations over various time scales.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed experimental characterization of current fluctuation distributions in a controllable bistable electronic device.

Findings

Distribution obeys large-deviation principle at long times

Excellent agreement with theoretical models

Verified fluctuation relation in bistable current regime

Abstract

We measure the full distribution of current fluctuations in a single-electron transistor with a controllable bistability. The conductance switches randomly between two levels due to the tunneling of single electrons in a separate single-electron box. The electrical fluctuations are detected over a wide range of time scales and excellent agreement with theoretical predictions is found. For long integration times, the distribution of the time-averaged current obeys the large-deviation principle. We formulate and verify a fluctuation relation for the bistable region of the current distribution.