Brownian motors: current fluctuations and rectification efficiency

Cascade-enhanced transport efficiency of biochemical systems

Recent developments in nonequilibrium thermodynamics, known as thermodynamic uncertainty relations, limit the system's accuracy by the amount of free-energy consumption. A transport efficiency, which can be used to characterize the capacity to control the fluctuation by means of energy cost, is a direct result of the thermodynamic uncertainty relation. According to our previous research, biochemical systems consume much lower energy cost by noise-induced oscillations to keep almost equal efficiency to maintain precise processes than that by normal oscillations. Here, we demonstrate that the performance of noise-induced oscillations propagating can be further improved through a cascade reaction mechanism. It has been discovered that it is possible to considerably enhance the transport efficiency of the biochemical reactions attained at the terminal cell, allowing the cell to use the cascade reaction mechanism to operate more precisely and efficiently. Moreover, an optimal reaction coupling strength has been predicted to maximize the transport efficiency of the terminal cell, uncovering a concrete design strategy for biochemical systems. By using the local mean field approximation, we have presented an analytical framework by extending the stochastic normal form equation to the system perturbed by external signals, providing an explanation of the optimal coupling strength.

Photomagnetically Powered Spiky Nanomachines with Thermal Control of Viscosity for Enhanced Cancer Mechanotherapy

Nanomachines with active propulsion have emerged as an intelligent platform for targeted cancer therapy. Achieving an efficient locomotion performance using an external energy conversion is a key requirement in the design of nanomachines. In this study, inspired by diverse spiky structures in nature, a photomagnetically powered nanomachine (PMN) with a spiky surface and thermally dependent viscosity tunability is proposed to facilitate mechanical motion in lysosomes for cancer mechanotherapy. The hybrid nanomachine is integrated with magnetic nanoparticles as the core and covered with gold nanotips. Physical simulations and experimental results prove that the spiky structure endows nanomachines with an obvious photomagnetic coupling effect in the NIR-II region through the alignment and orienting movement of plasmons on the gold tips. Using a coupling-enhanced magnetic field, PMNs are efficiently assembled into chain-like structures to further elevate energy conversion efficiency. Notably, PMNs with the thermal control of viscosity are efficiently propelled under simultaneously applied dual external energy sources in cell lysosomes. Enhanced mechanical destruction of cancer cells via PMNs is confirmed both in vitro and in vivo under photomagnetic treatment. This study provides a new direction for designing integrated nanomachines with active adaptability to physiological environments for cancer treatment.

Modeling and Performance Optimization of an Irreversible Two-Stage Combined Thermal Brownian Heat Engine

Based on finite time thermodynamics, an irreversible combined thermal Brownian heat engine model is established in this paper. The model consists of two thermal Brownian heat engines which are operating in tandem with thermal contact with three heat reservoirs. The rates of heat transfer are finite between the heat engine and the reservoir. Considering the heat leakage and the losses caused by kinetic energy change of particles, the formulas of steady current, power output and efficiency are derived. The power output and efficiency of combined heat engine are smaller than that of single heat engine operating between reservoirs with same temperatures. When the potential filed is free from external load, the effects of asymmetry of the potential, barrier height and heat leakage on the performance of the combined heat engine are analyzed. When the potential field is free from external load, the effects of basic design parameters on the performance of the combined heat engine are analyzed. The optimal power and efficiency are obtained by optimizing the barrier heights of two heat engines. The optimal working regions are obtained. There is optimal temperature ratio which maximize the overall power output or efficiency. When the potential filed is subjected to external load, effect of external load is analyzed. The steady current decreases versus external load; the power output and efficiency are monotonically increasing versus external load.

Entropy production and rectification efficiency in colloid transport along a pulsating channel

We study the current rectification of particles moving in a pulsating channel under the influence of an applied force. We have shown the existence of different rectification scenarios in which entropic and energetic effects compete. The effect can be quantified by means of a rectification coefficient that is analyzed in terms of the force, the frequency and the diffusion coefficient. The energetic cost of the motion of the particles expressed in terms of the entropy production depends on the importance of the entropic contribution to the total force. Rectification is more important at low values of the applied force when entropic effects become dominant. In this regime, the entropy production is not invariant under reversal of the applied force. The phenomenon observed could be used to optimize transport in microfluidic devices or in biological channels.

Transport and diffusion properties of Brownian particles powered by a rotating wheel

Diffusion and rectification of Brownian particles powered by a rotating wheel are numerically investigated in a two-dimensional channel. The nonequilibrium driving comes from the rotating wheel, which can break thermodynamical equilibrium and induce the directed transport in an asymmetric potential. It is found that the direction of the transport along the potential is determined by the asymmetry of the potential and the position of the wheel. The average velocity is a peaked function of the angular speed (or the diffusion coefficient) and the position of the peak shifts to large angular speed (or diffusion coefficient) when the diffusion coefficient (or the angular speed) increases. There exists an optimal angular speed (or diffusion coefficient) at which the effective diffusion coefficient takes its maximal value. Remarkably, the giant acceleration of diffusion is observed by suitably adjusting the system parameters. The parameters corresponding to the maximum effective diffusion coefficient are not the same as the parameters at which average velocity is maximum.

Performance optimization in two-dimensional Brownian rotary ratchet models

With a model for two-dimensional (2D) Brownian rotary ratchets being capable of producing a net torque under athermal random forces, its optimization for mean angular momentum (L), mean angular velocity (ω), and efficiency (η) is considered. In the model, supposing that such a small ratchet system is placed in a thermal bath, the motion of the rotor in the stator is described by the Langevin dynamics of a particle in a 2D ratchet potential, which consists of a static and a time-dependent interaction between rotor and stator; for the latter, we examine a force [randomly directed dc field (RDDF)] for which only the direction is instantaneously updated in a sequence of events in a Poisson process. Because of the chirality of the static part of the potential, it is found that the RDDF causes net rotation while coupling with the thermal fluctuations. Then, to maximize the efficiency of the power consumption of the net rotation, we consider optimizing the static part of the ratchet potential. A crucial point is that the proposed form of ratchet potential enables us to capture the essential feature of 2D ratchet potentials with two closed curves and allows us to systematically construct an optimization strategy. In this paper, we show a method for maximizing L, ω, and η, its outcome in 2D two-tooth ratchet systems, and a direction of optimization for a three-tooth ratchet system.

Diffusion of a massive particle in a periodic potential: Application to adiabatic ratchets

We generalize a theory of diffusion of a massive particle by the way in which transport characteristics are described by analytical expressions that formally coincide with those for the overdamped massless case but contain a factor comprising the particle mass which can be calculated in terms of Risken's matrix continued fraction method (MCFM). Using this generalization, we aim to elucidate how large gradients of a periodic potential affect the current in a tilted periodic potential and the average current of adiabatically driven on-off flashing ratchets. For this reason, we perform calculations for a sawtooth potential of the period L with an arbitrary sawtooth length (l<L) instead of the smooth potentials typically considered in MCFM-solvable problems. We find nonanalytic behavior of the transport characteristics calculated for the sharp extremely asymmetric sawtooth potential at l→0 which appears due to the inertial effect. Analysis of the temperature dependences of the quantities under study reveals the dominant role of inertia in the high-temperature region. In particular, we show, by the analytical strong-inertia approach developed for this region, that the temperature-dependent contribution to the mobility at zero force and to the related effective diffusion coefficient are proportional to T(-3/2) and T(-1/2), respectively, and have a logarithmic singularity at l→0.

Landauer's blowtorch effect as a thermodynamic cross process: Brownian cooling

The local heating of a selected region in a double-well potential alters the relative stability of the two wells and gives rise to an enhancement of population transfer to the cold well. We show that this Landauer's blowtorch effect may be considered in the spirit of a thermodynamic cross process linearly connecting the flux of particles and the thermodynamic force associated with the temperature difference and consequently ensuring the existence of a reverse cross effect. This reverse effect is realized by directing the thermalized particles in a double-well potential by application of an external bias from one well to the other, which suffers cooling.

Josephson phase diffusion in the superconducting quantum interference device ratchet

We study diffusion of the Josephson phase in the asymmetric superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) subjected to a time-periodic current and pierced by an external magnetic flux. We analyze a relation between phase diffusion and quality of transport characterized by the dc voltage across the SQUID and efficiency of the device. In doing so, we concentrate on the previously reported regime [J. Spiechowicz and J. Łuczka, New J. Phys. 17, 023054 (2015)] for which efficiency of the SQUID attains a global maximum. For long times, the mean-square displacement of the phase is a linear function of time, meaning that diffusion is normal. Its coefficient is small indicating rather regular phase evolution. However, it can be magnified several times by tailoring experimentally accessible parameters like amplitudes of the ac current or external magnetic flux. Finally, we prove that in the deterministic limit this regime is essentially non-chaotic and possesses an unexpected simplicity of attractors.

Brownian motors in the microscale domain: enhancement of efficiency by noise

We study a noisy drive mechanism for efficiency enhancement of Brownian motors operating on the microscale domain. It was proven [J. Spiechowicz et al., J. Stat. Mech. (2013) P02044] that biased noise η(t) can induce normal and anomalous transport processes similar to those generated by a static force F acting on inertial Brownian particles in a reflection-symmetric periodic structure in the presence of symmetric unbiased time-periodic driving. Here, we show that within selected parameter regimes, noise η(t) of the mean value 〈η(t)〉=F can be significantly more effective than the deterministic force F: the motor can move much faster, its velocity fluctuations are much smaller, and the motor efficiency increases several times. These features hold true in both normal and absolute negative mobility regimes. We demonstrate this with detailed simulations by resource to generalized white Poissonian noise. Our theoretical results can be tested and corroborated experimentally by use of a setup that consists of a resistively and capacitively shunted Josephson junction. The suggested strategy to replace F by η(t) may provide a new operating principle in which micro- and nanomotors could be powered by biased noise.

Inertial effects in adiabatically driven flashing ratchets

We study analytically the effect of a small inertial correction on the properties of adiabatically driven flashing ratchets. Parrondo's lemma [J. M. R. Parrondo, Phys. Rev. E 57, 7297 (1998)] is generalized to include the inertial term so as to establish the symmetry conditions allowing directed motion (other than in the overdamped massless case) and to obtain a high-temperature expansion of the motion velocity for arbitrary potential profiles. The inertial correction is thus shown to enhance the ratchet effect at all temperatures for sawtooth potentials and at high temperatures for simple potentials described by the first two harmonics. With the special choice of potentials represented by at least the first three harmonics, the correction gives rise to the motion reversal in the high-temperature region. In the low-temperature region, inertia weakens the ratchet effect, with the exception of the on-off model, where diffusion is important. The directed motion adiabatically driven by potential sign fluctuations, though forbidden in the overdamped limit, becomes possible due to purely inertial effects in neither symmetric nor antisymmetric potentials, i.e., not for commonly used sawtooth and two-sinusoid profiles.

Drift in Diffusion Gradients

The longstanding problem of Brownian transport in a heterogeneous quasi one-dimensional medium with space-dependent self-diffusion coefficient is addressed in the overdamped (zero mass) limit. A satisfactory mesoscopic description is obtained in the Langevin equation formalism by introducing an appropriate drift term, which depends on the system macroscopic observables, namely the diffuser concentration and current. The drift term is related to the microscopic properties of the medium. The paradoxical existence of a finite drift at zero current suggests the possibility of designing a Maxwell demon operating between two equilibrium reservoirs at the same temperature.

Thermally driven Casimir ratchet-oscillator system

We study a fluctuation-driven ratchet-oscillator system that consists of two ratchet pinions in contact with thermal baths at different temperatures. Coupling between noncontact parts of the system is mediated by the Casimir force through a thin corrugated plate. Due to mutual rectification, the two ratchets achieve directed average motion in opposite directions. We numerically probe the average velocity, the Peclet number, and the thermal efficiency of the system as functions of the effective temperatures of the thermal baths and other important dimensionless control parameters. It is found that optimal parameter values exist which maximize the directed transport rate but with very low efficiency. We expect that the obtained results will help in the design of noncontact mechanical devices in the future.

Energetics of stochastic resonance

In this paper, we discuss the motion of a Brownian particle in a double-well potential driven by a periodic force in terms of energies delivered by the periodic and the noise forces and energy dissipated into the viscous environment. It is shown that, while the power delivered by the periodic force to the Brownian particle is controlled by the strength of the noise, the power delivered by the noise itself is independent of the amplitude and frequency of the periodic force. The implications of this result for the mechanism of stochastic resonance in an equilibrium system is that it is not energy from the noise force which enhances a small periodic force, but rather an increase of energy delivered by the periodic force, regulated by the strength of the noise. We further re-evaluate the frequency dependence of stochastic resonance in terms of energetic terms including efficiency.

Experimental measurement of efficiency and transport coherence of a cold-atom Brownian motor in optical lattices

The rectification of noise into directed movement or useful energy is utilized by many different systems. The peculiar nature of the energy source and conceptual differences between such Brownian motor systems makes a characterization of the performance far from straightforward. In this work, where the Brownian motor consists of atoms interacting with dissipative optical lattices, we adopt existing theory and present experimental measurements for both the efficiency and the transport coherence. We achieve up to 0.3% for the efficiency and 0.01 for the Péclet number.

Thermal-inertial ratchet effects: negative mobility, resonant activation, noise-enhanced stability, and noise-weakened stability

Transport properties of a Brownian particle in thermal-inertial ratchets subject to an external time-oscillatory drive and a constant bias force are investigated. Since the phenomena of negative mobility, resonant activation and noise-enhance stability were reported before, in the present paper, we report some additional aspects of negative mobility, resonant activation and noise-enhance stability, such as the ingredients for the appearances of these phenomena, multiple resonant activation peaks, current reversals, noise-weakened stability, and so on.

Negative mobility induced by colored thermal fluctuations

Anomalous transport of non-Markovian thermal Brownian particle dynamics in spatially periodic symmetric systems that is driven by time-periodic symmetric driving and constant bias is investigated numerically. The Brownian dynamics is modeled by a generalized Langevin equation with exponentially correlated Gaussian thermal noise, obeying the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. We study the role of nonzero correlation time of thermal fluctuations for the occurrence of absolute negative (linear) mobility (ANM) near zero bias, negative-valued, nonlinear mobility (NNM), and negative differential mobility (NDM) at finite bias away from equilibrium. We detect that a nonzero thermal correlation time can either enhance or also diminish the value of ANM. Moreover, finite thermal noise correlation can induce NDM and NNM in regions of parameter space for which such ANM and NNM behaviors are distinctly absent for limiting white thermal noise. In parts of the parameter space, we find a complex structure of regions of linear and nonlinear negative mobility: islands and tongues which emerge and vanish under parameters manipulation. While certain such anomalous transport regimes fade away with increasing temperature some specific regions interestingly remain rather robust. Outside those regimes with anomalous mobility, the ac/dc driven transport is either normal or the driven Brownian particles are not transported at all.

Dispersionless motion and ratchet effect in a square-wave-driven inertial periodic potential system

The underdamped Langevin equation of motion of a particle, in a symmetric periodic potential and subjected to a symmetric periodic forcing with mean zero over a period, with nonuniform friction, is solved numerically. The particle is shown to acquire a steady state mean velocity at asymptotically large timescales. At these large timescales the position dispersion grows proportionally with time, t, allowing for calculating the steady state diffusion coefficient D. Interestingly, D shows a peaking behaviour around the same F(0) where the net current peaks. The net (ratchet) current, however, turns out to be largely coherent. At an intermediate timescale, which bridges the small timescale behaviour of dispersion ∼t(2) to the large time one, the system shows periodic oscillation between dispersionless and steeply growing dispersion depending on the amplitude and frequency of the forcing. The contribution of these different dispersion regimes to ratchet current is analysed.

Relaxation dynamics near nonequilibrium stationary states in Brownian ratchets

A comprehensive study of the static and dynamical properties of a representative stochastic model of Brownian ratchet effects for molecular motors is reported. The model describes Brownian motions on two periodic potentials under static and time-dependent forces, where there are two distinct locations of chemical reactions coupling the levels with reversible rates within a period. Complete stationary properties have been obtained analytically for arbitrary potentials under external force. Dynamical relaxation properties near nonequilibrium stationary states were examined by considering the response function of velocity upon time-dependent external force, expressed in terms of the conditional probability density of the model. The latter is fully calculated using a systematic numerical method using matrix diagonalization, which is easily generalized to more complicated models for studying both static and dynamical properties. The behavior of the time-dependent response examined for model potentials suggests that the characteristic relaxation time near stationary states generally decreases linearly with respect to increasing velocity as one goes away from equilibrium via an increase in chemical potential of fuel species, a prediction testable in single molecule experiments.

Resonant transport in pulsated devices: mobility oscillations and diffusion peaks

Diffusion of an overdamped Brownian particle on a symmetric periodic substrate is investigated in the presence of pulsated perturbations of two kinds: (i) Stepwise lateral displacements (flashing substrate) and (ii) instantaneous tilts (shot noise). Pulses are applied, as it is often observed, in either periodic or random sequences with assigned mean (bias) and average waiting time (time constant). For a given bias, both the diffusion coefficient and the mobility of the particle can be greatly enhanced by tuning the time constant. Moreover, also depending on the time constant, the mobility can grow negative in (i) or exceed unity in (ii). We term this phenomenon resonant transport.

Dissipation and transport dynamics in a ratchet coupled to a discrete bath

We investigate a particle in a ratchet potential (the system) coupled to an harmonic bath of N=1-500 degrees of freedom (the discrete bath). The dynamics of the energy exchange between the system and the discrete bath is studied in the transition regime from low to high values of N . First manifestation of dissipation (energy lost by the system) appears for the bath composed of 10 less, similar N less, similar 20 oscillators, as expected. For low values of N , beside small dissipation effects, the system experiences the bath-induced particle transfer between different potential wells from the ratchet. We show that this effect decreases the mobility of particles along the ratchet. The hopping probability along the ratchet and the energy decay rates for the system are shown to obey the power law for late times, a behavior typical of discrete baths which for low and intermediate values of N always induce a non-Markovian process. The exponential decay is recovered for high bath frequencies distribution and for high values of N , where the Markovian limit is expected. Moreover, by including the external oscillating field with intensity F , we show that current reversal occurs in two situations: By increasing N and by switching from low to high frequencies distribution of the bath. The mobility of particles is shown to have a maximum at F=0.1 , which is N independent (for higher values of N ).

Transport characteristics of molecular motors

Properties of transport of molecular motors are investigated. A simplified model based on the concept of Brownian ratchets is applied. We analyze a stochastic equation of motion by means of numerical methods. The transport is systematically studied with respect to its energetic efficiency and quality expressed by an effective diffusion coefficient. We demonstrate the role of friction and non-equilibrium driving on the transport quantifiers and identify regions of a parameter space where motors are optimally transported.

Transport control in a deterministic ratchet system

We study the control of transport properties in a deterministic inertia ratchet system via the extended delay feedback method. A chaotic current of a deterministic inertia ratchet system is controlled to a regular current by stabilizing unstable periodic orbits embedded in a chaotic attractor of the unperturbed system. By selecting an unstable periodic orbit, which has a desired transport property, and stabilizing it via the extended delay feedback method, we can control transport properties of the deterministic inertia ratchet system. Also, we show that the extended delay feedback method can be utilized for separation of particles in the deterministic inertia ratchet system as a particle's initial condition varies.

Ratchet-driven fluid transport in bounded two-layer films of immiscible liquids

We present a two-layer thin film model allowing us to study the behavior of a general class of 'wettability ratchets' that can be employed to transport a continuous phase. Brownian ratchets, in contrast, are normally used to transport particles or molecules within a continuous carrier fluid without transporting the fluid itself. The wettability ratchet is based on a switchable, spatially asymmetric, periodic interaction of the free surface of the film and the walls. To illustrate the general concept, we focus on an electrical dewetting mechanism based on the effective force exercised by a static electric field on the liquid-liquid interface between two dielectric liquids. In particular, we analyse (i) an on-off ratchet with a constant lateral force resulting in a dewetting-spreading cycle, (ii) a ratchet switching between two shifted potentials that shows a transition between oscillating and sliding drops, and (iii) a flashing external force ratchet. For the three cases, the macroscopic transport is studied in its dependence on spatial and temporal characteristics of the ratchet, and physical properties and volume of the liquids.

Directed molecular transport in an oscillating channel with randomness

Stability of directed transport and molecular separation in a symmetric channel is analyzed. The original mechanism is based on harmonic spatial oscillations of the channel, under which the system exhibits multiple regimes of a directed transport. The particles may be forced to move with different velocities and directions as the amplitude and/or frequency of the oscillations are adjusted to a proper resonance. The advantage of this mechanism in contrast to the ratchet systems is that the average particle velocity is larger than the velocity of the growing of the width of the particle spatial distribution. We have studied the stability of the directed transport with regard to random impacts to the channel parameters and oscillation frequency. Here we present the results of the simulations which show that the ability of the combined longitudinally and transversally vibrating randomized dynamic channel to perform directed molecular transport remains resilient to quite intensive random channel structure fluctuations (50-60%) and relatively strong random impacts to its oscillations (15-20%).

Facilitated movement of inertial Brownian motors driven by a load under an asymmetric potential

Based on recent work [L. Machura, M. Kostur, P. Talkner, J. Luczka, and P. Hanggi, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 040601 (2007)], we extend the study of inertial Brownian motors to the case of an asymmetric potential. It is found that some transport phenomena appear in the presence of an asymmetric potential. Within tailored parameter regimes, there exists two optimal values of the load at which the mean velocity takes its maximum, which means that a load can facilitate the transport in the two parameter regimes. In addition, the phenomenon of multiple current reversals can be observed when the load is increased.

Reciprocating Motion on the Nanoscale

This paper analyzes the confined motion of a Brownian particle fluctuating between two conformational states with different potential profiles and different position-dependent rate constants of the transitions, the fluctuations arising from both thermal (equilibrium) and external (nonequilibrium) noise. The model illustrates a mechanism to transduce, on the nanoscale, the energy of nonequilibrium fluctuations into mechanical energy of reciprocating motion. Expressions for the reciprocating velocity and the efficiency of energy conversion are derived. These expressions are treated in more detail in the slow-fluctuation (quasi-equilibrium) regime, by simple perturbation theory arguments, and in the fast fluctuation limit, in terms of the potential of mean force. A notable observation is that the generalized driving force of the reciprocating motion is caused by two sources: the energy contribution due to the difference between the potential profiles of the states and the entropic contribution due to the difference between the position-dependent rate constants. Two illustrative examples are presented, where one of the two sources can be ignored and an exact solution is allowed. Among other aspects, we also discuss the ways to construct a molecular motor based on the reciprocating engine.

Conventional and generalized efficiencies of flashing and rocking ratchets: analytical comparison of high-efficiency limits

We consider two basic types of Brownian motors which generate directed motion in a periodic asymmetric piecewise-linear potential as a result of random half-period shifts of the potential relief (flashing ratchets) or due to a temporally asymmetric unbiased force applied to the system (rocking ratchets). Analytical relationships have been derived which enable the comparison of the upper limits for the conventional and generalized energy conversion efficiencies in these motors. As found, the increasing amplitude of a sawtooth potential (or the decreasing temperature) makes the conventional efficiency tend to the unity limit faster for a rocking ratchet (in the absence of temporal asymmetry) than for a flashing ratchet. The inverse is true for the generalized efficiency. The potential amplitude being the same, the generalized efficiency is always less than the conventional efficiency. A decreased asymmetry of the potential always results in the reduction of both efficiencies. The temporal asymmetry of an unbiased force has an opposite effect on the conventional and generalized efficiencies: the former rises and the latter drops as the positive signal component becomes shorter in time and larger in amplitude.

Absolute negative mobility induced by thermal equilibrium fluctuations

A novel transport phenomenon is identified that is induced by inertial Brownian particles which move in simple one-dimensional, symmetric periodic potentials under the influence of both a time periodic and a constant, biasing driving force. Within tailored parameter regimes, thermal equilibrium fluctuations induce the phenomenon of absolute negative mobility (ANM), which means that the particle noisily moves backwards against a small constant bias. When no thermal fluctuations act, the transport vanishes identically in these tailored regimes. ANM can also occur in the absence of fluctuations on grounds which are rooted solely in the complex, inertial deterministic dynamics. The experimental verification of this new transport scheme is elucidated for the archetype symmetric physical system: a convenient setup consisting of a resistively and capacitively shunted Josephson junction device.

Intermediate dynamics between Newton and Langevin

A dynamics between Newton and Langevin formalisms is elucidated within the framework of the generalized Langevin equation. For thermal noise yielding a vanishing zero-frequency friction the corresponding non-Markovian Brownian dynamics exhibits anomalous behavior which is characterized by ballistic diffusion and accelerated transport. We also investigate the role of a possible initial correlation between the system degrees of freedom and the heat-bath degrees of freedom for the asymptotic long-time behavior of the system dynamics. As two test beds we investigate (i) the anomalous energy relaxation of free non-Markovian Brownian motion that is driven by a harmonic velocity noise and (ii) the phenomenon of a net directed acceleration in noise-induced transport of an inertial rocking Brownian motor.

Recycled noise rectification: an automated Maxwell's daemon

The one-dimensional motion of a massless Brownian particle on a symmetric periodic substrate can be rectified by reinjecting its driving noise through a realistic recycling procedure. If the recycled noise is multiplicatively coupled to the substrate, the ensuing feedback system works like a passive Maxwell's daemon, capable of inducing a net current that depends on both the delay and the autocorrelation times of the noise signals. Extensive numerical simulations show that the underlying rectification mechanism is a resonant nonlinear effect: The observed currents can be optimized for an appropriate choice of the recycling parameters with immediate application to the design of nanodevices for particle transport.

Diffusion of interacting Brownian particles: Jamming and anomalous diffusion

The free self-diffusion of an assembly of interacting particles confined on a quasi-one-dimensional ring is investigated both numerically and analytically. The interparticle pairwise interaction can be either attractive or repulsive and the energy barrier opposing thermal hopping of two particles one past the other is finite. Thus, for sufficiently long times, self-diffusion becomes normal or conventional diffusion. However, depending on the particle density, subdiffusive transients with exponent 12 and suppression of normal diffusion are observed. Above a certain density threshold, a sudden drop to zero of the diffusion coefficient for attractive particles signals the transition to a jammed phase. Furthermore, a Gaussian cluster of attractive particles condenses, by shrinking in size, for densities larger than such density threshold; lower density clusters spread out, regardless of the interaction sign, through a diffusion mechanism that is anomalous at short times, and normal for sufficiently long times. These effects could be observed in systems with colloidal particles, vortices, electrons, among other interacting particle systems.

Chaotic noisy transport of electron pairs in a superconducting junction device: thermal-inertia ratchets

Chaotic noisy transport of electron pairs in a superconducting junction device (thermal-inertia ratchets) is investigated. The study shows that when the temperature is low enough, the transport of the electron pairs can be mainly chaotic; when the temperature is high enough, it can be mainly stochastic. By controlling the temperature and the amplitude of the input ac signal, the current of electron pairs can be reversed.

Brownian motor with time-delayed feedback

An inertial Brownian motor with time-delayed feedback driven by an unbiased time-periodic force is investigated. It is found that the mean velocity and the rectification efficiency are decreased when the noise intensity is increased. While the shape of the mean velocity and the rectification efficiency can be changed from one peak to two peaks when the time delay is increased, the symmetry in the velocity probability distribution function is broken when the delay time is increased.

Diffusion enhancement in a periodic potential under high-frequency space-dependent forcing

We study the long-time behavior of an underdamped Brownian particle moving through a viscous medium and in a systematic potential, when it is subjected to a space-dependent high-frequency periodic force. When the frequency is very large, much larger than all other relevant system-frequencies, there is a Kapitsa time window wherein the effect of frequency-dependent forcing can be replaced by a static effective potential. Our analysis includes the case in which the forcing, in addition to being frequency-dependent, is space-dependent as well. The results of our analysis then lead to additional contributions to the effective potential. These are applied to the numerical calculation of the diffusion coefficient (D) for a Brownian particle moving in a periodic potential. Presented are numerical results, which are in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions and which indicate a significant enhancement of D due to the space-dependent forcing terms. In addition, we study the transport property (current) of an underdamped Brownian particle in a ratchet potential.

Quantum diffusion in biased washboard potentials: strong friction limit

Diffusive transport properties of a quantum Brownian particle moving in a tilted spatially periodic potential and strongly interacting with a thermostat are explored. Apart from the average stationary velocity, we foremost investigate the diffusive behavior by evaluating the effective diffusion coefficient together with the corresponding Peclet number. Corrections due to quantum effects, such as quantum tunneling and quantum fluctuations, are shown to substantially enhance the effectiveness of diffusive transport if only the thermostat temperature resides within an appropriate interval of intermediate values.

Achieving optimal rectification using underdamped rocked ratchets

An underdamped rocked ratchet operated at very low temperatures and damping is shown: (i) to be capable of rectifying the ac input signal more efficiently than in the overdamped regime; (ii) to be insensitive to the initial conditions, at variance with noiseless, or deterministic, ratchets; and (iii) to be characterized by a wide damping "window," where its efficiency is appreciable also for weak input amplitudes. All these properties are rather robust, irrespective of the wave form of the drive and the ratchet potential. Our results relate to recent experiments on current-biased annular Josephson junctions and also on rectifiers of magnetic flux quanta in superconductors.

Single-file diffusion on a periodic substrate

An assembly of "nonpassing" particles diffusing on a one-dimensional periodic substrate is shown to undergo single-file diffusion for both noiseless (ballistic) and stochastic dynamics. The dependence of the corresponding diffusion coefficients on the density and temperature of the particles and on the substrate parameters is determined by means of numerical simulations and analytically interpreted within the formalism of standard Brownian motion.

Single-polymer Brownian motor: a simulation study

Numerical simulation is used to study a single polymer chain in a flashing ratchet potential to determine how the mechanism of this Brownian motor system is affected by the presence of internal degrees of freedom. The polymer is modeled by a freely jointed chain with N monomers in which the monomers interact via a repulsive Lennard-Jones potential and neighboring monomers on the chain are connected by finite extensible nonlinear elastic bonds. Each monomer is acted upon by a 1D asymmetric, piecewise linear potential of spatial period L comparable to the radius of gyration of the polymer. This potential is also characterized by a localization time, t(on), and by a free diffusion time, t(off). We characterize the average motor velocity as a function of L, t(off), and N to determine optimal parameter ranges, and we evaluate motor performance in terms of finite dispersion, Peclet number, rectification efficiency, stall force, and transportation of a load against a viscous drag. We find that the polymer motor performs qualitatively better than a single particle in a flashing ratchet: with increasing N, the polymer loses velocity much more slowly than expected in the absence of internal degrees of freedom, and the motor stall force increases linearly with N. To understand these cooperative aspects of motor operation, we analyze relevant Rouse modes. The experimental feasibility is analyzed and the parameters of the model are scaled to those of lambda-DNA. Finally, in the context of experimental realization, we present initial modeling results for a 2D flashing ratchet constructed using an electrode array, and find good agreement with the results of 1D simulations although the polymer in the 2D potential sometimes briefly "detaches" from the electrode surface.

Optimal strategy for controlling transport in inertial Brownian motors

In order to optimize the directed motion of an inertial Brownian motor, we identify the operating conditions that both maximize the motor current and minimize its dispersion. Extensive numerical simulation of an inertial rocked ratchet displays that two quantifiers, namely the energetic efficiency and the Péclet number (or equivalently the Fano factor), suffice to determine the regimes of optimal transport. The effective diffusion of this rocked inertial Brownian motor can be expressed as a generalized fluctuation theorem of the Green-Kubo type.

Noise-assisted transport on symmetric periodic substrates

The rectification of a massive Brownian particle moving on a periodic substrate can be achieved in the absence of spatial asymmetry, by having recourse to (at least) two periodic, zero-mean input signals. We determine the relevant drift current under diverse operation conditions, namely, additive and multiplicative couplings, adiabatic and fast oscillating drives, and propagating substrate modulations. Distinct rectification mechanisms result from the interplay of noise and commensuration of the input frequencies, mediated through the nonlinearity of the substrate. These mechanisms are then extended to characterize soliton transport along a directed multistable chain. As the side-wise soliton diffusion is ultimately responsible for the transverse diffusion of such chains, our approach provides a full account of the Brownian motion of both pointlike and linear objects on a periodic substrate.

Performance characteristics of Brownian motors

Brownian motors are nonequilibrium systems that rectify thermal fluctuations to achieve directed motion, using spatial or temporal asymmetry. We provide a tutorial introduction to this basic concept using the well-known example of a flashing ratchet, discussing the micro- to nanoscopic scale on which such motors can operate. Because of the crucial role of thermal noise, the characterization of the performance of Brownian motors must include their fluctuations, and we review suitable performance measures for motor coherency and efficiency. Specifically, we highlight that it is possible to determine the energy efficiency of Brownian motors by measuring their velocity fluctuations, without detailed knowledge of the motor function and its energy input. Finally, we exemplify these concepts using a model for an artificial single-molecule motor with internal degrees of freedom.