Counting Statistics of Photons Produced by Electronic Shot Noise

Abstract

A theory is presented for the photodetection statistics of radiation produced by current fluctuations in a phase-coherent conductor. Deviations are found from the Poisson statistics that would result from a classical current. For detection in a narrow frequency interval delta omega, the photocount distribution has the negative-binomial form of blackbody radiation if e delta omega is less than the mean current I in the conductor. When electronic localization sets in, I drops below e delta omega and a different type of super-Poissonian photon statistics results.