Determination of Electronic Charge from Measurements of Shot-Effect in Aperiodic Circuits

An outstanding difficulty in the measurement of electronic charge from shot-effect in a tuned circuit has been regeneration into this circuit. Former methods of dealing with that feature have added tedious computations to Schottky's original calculation. The solution presented here yields the result in such a form that much of the labor is eliminated; the solution is of great mathematical simplicity, and measurement of high-frequency resistance and resonance frequency becomes unnecessary. The treatment may be generalized to include the non-resonant case if the assumption be made that the resonance curve of the amplifier is symmetrical. A non-inductive resistance may be used as the medium of coupling, and experimental work with this system yields the mean results for electronic charge of 4. 77410^10 e. s. u. In work under conditions other than those of temperature limitation, the diminution of fluctuations seems to be due to high current densities rather than space charge in the region of the filament.