Controlling Transport in Mixtures of Interacting Particles using Brownian Motors

Sergey Savel’ev, F. Marchesoni, and Franco Nori
Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 010601 – Published 2 July 2003

Abstract

An outstanding open problem in nanoscience is how to control the motion of tiny particles. Ratchetlike devices, inspired by biological motors, have been proposed as a way to achieve this goal. However, the net directed transport is almost suppressed if the diffusing particles are weakly coupled to the underlying spatially asymmetric substrate. Here we show how adding particles of an auxiliary species, that interact with both the primary particles of interest and the substrate, provides a controlled enhancement of the flow for both species. These can move either together or in opposite directions, depending upon the strength of the interaction, and whether it is attractive or repulsive.

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  • Received 23 December 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.010601

©2003 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Sergey Savel’ev1, F. Marchesoni1,2, and Franco Nori1,3

  • 1Frontier Research System, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan
  • 2INFM and Physics Department, Universitá di Camerino, I-62032 Camerino, Italy
  • 3Center for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, CSCS, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1120, USA

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Issue

Vol. 91, Iss. 1 — 4 July 2003

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