Planck Spectroscopy and the Quantum Noise of Microwave Beam Splitters

We use a correlation function analysis of the field quadratures to characterize both the black body radiation emitted by a 50 Ohm load resistor and the quantum properties of two types of beam splitters in the microwave regime. To this end, we first study vacuum fluctuations as a function of frequency in a Planck spectroscopy experiment and then measure the covariance matrix of weak thermal states. Our results provide direct experimental evidence that vacuum fluctuations represent the fundamental minimum quantum noise added by a beam splitter to any given input signal.