Generation of non-classical electromagnetic field by a coherent conductor / Génération de champ électromagnétique non classique par un conducteur cohérent

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Progress in the industry of micro-electronics have made possible the fabrication of components of submicron size. Many experiments have been performed to measure the average current in such nanostructures. More subtle, but much more difficult are the measurements of the fluctuations of the current, usually nicknamed “noise”. The behavior of electrons in small conductors at low temperature cannot be explained by usual laws of physics, valid in the macroscopic world at room temperature: instead, one has to invoke quantum mechanics to understand laws of electricity in such conditions. This is true not only for the current but also for the noise. However the noise, fluctuating voltage and current, is nothing but a fluctuating electromagnetic field, i.e. light. Noise is here considered in the microwave domain and in circuits, while light is usually associated with much higher frequencies and propagation in free space, but they are the same. And quantum mechanics applied to light is a branch of physics, called quantum optics.