Visibility of current and shot noise in electrical Mach-Zehnder and Hanbury Brown Twiss interferometers

V. S.-W. Chung, P. Samuelsson, and M. Büttiker
Phys. Rev. B 72, 125320 – Published 14 September 2005

Abstract

We investigate the visibility of the current and shot-noise correlations of electrical analogs of the optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer and the Hanbury Brown Twiss interferometer. The electrical analogs are discussed in conductors subject to high magnetic fields where electron motion is along edge states. The transport quantities are modulated with the help of an Aharonov-Bohm flux. We discuss the conductance (current) visibility and shot noise visibility as a function of temperature and applied voltage. Dephasing is introduced with the help of fictitious voltage probes. Comparison of these two interferometers is of interest since the Mach-Zehnder interferometer is an amplitude (single-particle) interferometer, whereas the Hanbury Brown Twiss interferometer is an intensity (two-particle) interferometer. A direct comparison is only possible for the shot noise of the two interferometers. We find that the visibility of shot noise correlations of the Hanbury Brown Twiss interferometer as a function of temperature, voltage or dephasing, is qualitatively similar to the visibility of the first harmonic of the shot noise correlation of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer. In contrast, the second harmonic of the shot noise visibility of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer decreases much more rapidly with increasing temperature, voltage or dephasing rate.

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  • Received 20 May 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.72.125320

©2005 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

V. S.-W. Chung1,2, P. Samuelsson3, and M. Büttiker1

  • 1Département de Physique Théorique, Université de Genève, Genève 4, CH-1211, Switzerland
  • 2Department of Electronics, National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan
  • 3Division of Solid State Theory, Lund University, Sölvegatan 14 A, S-223 62 Lund, Sweden

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Issue

Vol. 72, Iss. 12 — 15 September 2005

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