Filtered shot noise 2026-10-18
Let be the complete current-to-voltage frequency response from detector input to readout, in . For a real stable linear time-invariant system, the shot contribution to the output voltage variance isIf with feedback electrical resistance , a reference voltage gain , and dimensionless normalized frequency response , thenThis is the effective noise bandwidth for unit reference magnitude. The transimpedance amplifier factor converts electric current to voltage; multiplies voltage. Neither is an additional noise source merely because it amplifies an existing fluctuation. In contrast, a real amplifier adds input voltage noise and input current noise, and its feedback resistor contributes thermal electrical noise. Those terms need their own transfers to the output. In particular, input voltage noise generally has a different transfer from an injected detector electric current. Simply multiplying every input specification by is incorrect.
For a unit-gain exponential low-pass filter, with time constant ,The cutoff frequency is not . An independent time-domain derivation sums independent event contributions to giveThe same reasoning for a rectangular averaging gate has on and zero elsewhere, hence effective noise bandwidth and variance , agreeing with the shot noise counting model. Equal numerical durations do not make these two different linear filters equivalent.
Johnson-Nyquist noise is equilibrium electrical fluctuation caused by thermal agitation of charge carriers. A resistor can generate a fluctuating terminal voltage even when its mean current is zero. In the classical frequency range , the Fluctuation-dissipation theorem relates this noise to dissipative resistance. The one-sided voltage power spectral density of an unloaded resistor isEquivalently its short-circuit current spectrum is . Over a flat bandwidth the rms voltage is . A real measurement instead integrates over positive frequency, with loading and the filter's effective noise bandwidth included. A flat spectrum does not imply an infinite physically measurable variance; the circuit and the quantum high-frequency regime limit the ideal white-noise model.
Cooling or narrowing the accepted bandwidth reduces thermal noise. Reducing resistance lowers its open-circuit voltage noise but raises its short-circuit current noise, so the appropriate choice depends on source impedance and amplifier loading. Thermal agitation is not a fluctuating externally applied voltage that can be removed by perfect shielding alone.
Shot noise arises from discrete transfer events. In the simplest shot noise counting model, equal charges arrive independently at constant rate . A gate of duration contains a Poisson number , with mean and variance . Therefore mean current is , and the averaged-current variance is . The corresponding one-sided low-frequency spectrum isfor a flat accepted bandwidth. Electron current has . Vacuum emission or photodetection can approximate independent arrivals; correlations in a conductor can suppress or enhance the fluctuations. Discreteness by itself does not guarantee Poisson statistics.
For a fixed mean current the ideal shot-noise formula is not proportional to temperature, whereas Johnson noise is. Increasing current raises absolute shot noise but lowers its fractional size, since . Both can appear approximately white within a useful frequency band, and independent noise powers add after referring them to a common measurement point. Their spectra must use the same convention: two-sided densities are half these one-sided values. A real low-current experiment can also contain amplifier noise, low-frequency drift and correlated transfer noise, so a mean current or resistance alone does not specify its complete noise budget.
Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge 2019 Paper 1 Section A 4 Solution 2026-10-18
Ohm's law gives the mean electric currentFor an estimate, assume the shot noise counting model: electron transfers are independent, so the number recorded in an interval has a Poisson distribution with expectation value and variance . One measurement has relative standard deviation . Averaging independent intervals reduces this to , soabout minutes in total.
This is a one-standard deviation, shot noise estimate. A resistance and mean voltage alone do not specify the actual current fluctuations: a real resistor also has Johnson-Nyquist noise, and electron-transfer correlations can change the shot noise. Its temperature, measurement bandwidth and noise model would be needed for an unconditional acquisition time.