Fluctuations of the current through a tunnel junction are measured using a Josephson junction. The current noise adds to the bias current of the Josephson junction and affects its switching out of the supercurrent branch. The experiment is carried out in a regime where switching is determined by thermal activation. The variance of the noise results in an elevated effective temperature, whereas the third cumulant, related to its asymmetric character, leads to a difference in the switching rates observed for opposite signs of the current through the tunnel junction. Measurements are compared quantitatively with recent theoretical predictions.
@article{arxiv.0901.2519,
title = {Asymmetric noise probed with a Josephson junction},
author = {Q. Le Masne and H. Pothier and Norman O. Birge and C. Urbina and D. Esteve},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0901.2519},
year = {2009}
}