Pelletine: Shot Noise
Measurement, Noise & the Lab arc, page 133 of 193. Back to The Pixelated Physics Universe
Who they are
Pelletine has one line, and says it often: “Charge comes in lumps. so does progress.”
Pelletine is a character of the Measurement, Noise & the Lab arc: drawn in pixels, ruled by one piece of real physics, and never allowed to break it.
The physics
Shot noise: current made of discrete charges fluctuates with spectral density SI = 2qI. Its size reveals the charge of the carrier.
$$ \begin{gathered} S_I = 2qI \end{gathered} $$
| Symbol | Meaning | SI unit |
|---|---|---|
| $S_I$ | current noise spectral density | A^2/Hz |
| $q$ | charge of the carrier | C |
| $I$ | mean current | A |
Sources
Crossovers
Pelletine meets Islandine (Coulomb Blockade). Islandine lets electrons through one at a time. Pelletine hears the result: current made of discrete charges is noisy, and the size of the shot noise reveals the charge of each carrier.
Pelletine meets Backglowen (CCD Sky Background Noise). Backglowen's sky-limited images are limited by photon shot noise from the sky, which is Pelletine's physics applied to light. Signal-to-noise grows as √t.
Wear the lore
Concept keywords: Shot Noise, Pelletine, Measurement, Noise & the Lab, physics lore, Pixelated Physics