Photon-assisted tunneling in electron pumps

We measure photon-assisted tunneling in 4- and 6-junction electron pumps at photon frequencies up to 60 GHz. We determine the microwave voltage at the pumps using noise thermometry. The standard theory of leakage in the elect ron pump, modified to include photon-assisted tunneling, describes our expe riments well. From this test of theory we argue that, in the absence of ext ernal microwaves, photon-assisted tunneling driven by 1/f noise is an impor tant error mechanism in electron pumps.