Ratchet Effect and Particle Diffusion in an Underdamped Inhomogeneous Periodic Potential System

Abstract

Thermal fluctuations or noise assisted particle dynamics in a driven underdamped inhomogeneous periodic potential system is studied. This forms an archetypal model to study different Physical and Biological processes in the microscopic domain. The particles are shown to exhibit directed transport aided by these fluctuations without the application of any external bias. This phenomenon, also known as ratchet effect, is a counterintuitive phenomenon in which systems in the microscopic domain harnesses the energy of the random fluctuations to do constructive work. Also in the presence of random thermal fluctuations or noise, the particles undergo diffusion, the amount of which can be controlled by controlling the different parameters of the system. This can have important technological applications.