Ratchet transport of self-propelled chimeras in an asymmetric periodic structure

We studied the rectified transport of underdamped particles subject to phase lag in an asymmetric periodic structure. When the inertia effect is considered, it is possible to observe reversals of the average velocity with small self-propelled force, whereas particles always move in the positive direction with large self-propelled force. The introduction of phase lag leads particles to follow circular orbits and suppress the polar motion. In addition, this can adjust the direction of particle motion. There exists an optimal value of polar interaction strength at which the rectification is maximal. These results open the way for many application processes, such as spatial sorting of particles mixture and separation based on their physical properties.     

Direct observation of rectified motion of vortices by Lorentz microscopy

We have investigated the vortex dynamics for the ‘ratchet’ operation in a niobium superconductor via a direct imaging of Lorentz microscopy. We directly observe one-directional selective motion of field-gradient-driven vortices along fabricated channels. This results from the rectification of vortices in a spatially asymmetric potential under the oscillating magnetic field in a temporally symmetric manner. Based on the observation of the individual motion of vortices, we clarify the elementary process involved in this rectification.     

Direct observation of rectified motion of vortices in a niobium superconductor

Using Lorentz microscopy to directly image vortices, we investigate vortex motion control and rectification in a niobium superconductor. We directly observe a net motion of vortices along microfabricated channels with a spatially asymmetric potential, even though the vortices were driven by an oscillatory field. By observing the individual motion of vortices, we clarify elementary processes involved in this rectification. To further demonstrate the ability to control the motion of vortices, we created a tiny vortex "racetrack" to monitor the motion of vortices in a closed circuit channel.     

Quantum ratchets with few bands below the barrier

We investigate directed motion in nonadiabatically rocked ratchet systems sustaining few bands below the barrier. Upon restricting the dynamics to the lowest M bands, the total system-plus-bath Hamiltonian is mapped onto a discrete tight-binding model containing all the information both on the intrawell and interwell tunneling motion. A closed form for the current in the incoherent tunneling regime is obtained. In effective single-band ratchets, no current rectification occurs. We apply our theory to describe rectification effects in vortex quantum ratchets devices. Current reversals upon variation of the ac-field amplitude or frequency are predicted.     

Nonlinear optical absorption and optical rectification in near-surface double quantum wells: combined effects of electric, magnetic fields and hydrostatic pressure

The theoretical study of the combined effects of electric and magnetic fields and hydrostatic pressure on the nonlinear optical absorption and rectification is presented for electrons confined within an asymmetrical GaAs?Ga_1-x Alx As double quantum well. The effective mass, parabolic band, and envelope function approaches are used as tools for the investigation. The electric field is taken to be oriented along the growth direction of the heterostructure and the magnetic field is applied parallel to the interfaces of the quantum wells. The pressure-induced mixing between the two lowest conduction bands is considered both in the low and high pressure regimes. According to the results obtained it can be concluded that the nonlinear optical absorption and rectification coefficients depend in a non-trivial way on some internal and external parameters such as the size of the quantum wells, the direction of applied electric field, the magnitude of hydrostatic pressure, the stoichiometry of the wells and barriers, and the intensity of the applied magnetic field.     

Quantifying the sorting efficiency of self-propelled run-and-tumble swimmers by geometrical ratchets

Suitable asymmetric microstructures can be used to control the direction of motion in microorganism populations. This rectification process makes it possible to accumulate swimmers in a region of space or to sort different swimmers. Here we study numerically how the separation process depends on the specific motility strategies of the microorganisms involved. Crucial properties such as the separation efficiency and the separation time for two bacterial strains are precisely defined and evaluated. In particular, the sorting of two bacterial populations inoculated in a box consisting of a series of chambers separated by columns of asymmetric obstacles is investigated. We show how the sorting efficiency is enhanced by these obstacles and conclude that this kind of sorting can be efficiently used even when the involved populations differ only in one aspect of their swimming strategy.     

Nonadiabatic corrections to the velocity of a Brownian motor with a complex potential profile

A number of laws have been established that govern the motion of a Brownian particle in a periodic potential profile for the adiabatically fast (with the time τ₀) and adiabatically slow variations in its shape. The average velocity of a particle has been calculated including a nonadiabatic contribution depending on τ₀ and the characteristic times of the system, which are determined by the characteristic features of the potential profile. It has been shown that the nonadiabatic correction to the velocity is proportional to τ₀² for a smooth potential profile and to τ₀ for a hopping movement in a potential containing barriers and wells, and this correction limits the large values of the rectification factor of motion for a high-performance motor operation mode.     

Macroscopic coherent rectification in Andreev interferometers

We investigate nonlinear transport through quantum coherent metallic conductors contacted to superconducting components. We find that in certain geometries, the presence of superconductivity generates a large, finite-average rectification effect. Specializing to Andreev interferometers, we show that the direction and magnitude of rectification can be controlled by a magnetic flux tuning the superconducting phase difference at two contacts. In particular, this results in the breakdown of an Onsager reciprocity relation at finite bias. The rectification current is macroscopic in that it scales with the linear conductance, and we find that it exceeds 5% of the linear current at sub-gap biases of a few tens of microelectronvolts.     

Rectifying effect in a Josephson junction ratchet array

We have studied numerically a rectifying effect in an underdamped Josephson junction ratchet array driven by dc and ac current. The array consists of both alternating potential barriers and alternating inter-capacitances along the direction of vortex flow. The guide banks of high critical currents are assigned for all the longitudinal junctions to prevent the percolative pattern of vortex motion. In some junction parameters, we see a rectifying effect which indicates a finite value of the time-averaged voltage at zero dc bias. The directional dependence of the vortex motion becomes fairly large when the junction parameters lie in an optimal range which gives rise to a Shapiro step at zero dc bias. Such a rectifying effect survives for small thermal fluctuation, but eventually disappear beyond a certain critical temperature.     

Controllable 3D atomic Brownian motor in optical lattices

We study a Brownian motor, based on cold atoms in optical lattices, where atomic motion can be induced in a controlled manner in an arbitrary direction, by rectification of isotropic random fluctuations. In contrast with ratchet mechanisms, our Brownian motor operates in a potential that is spatially and temporally symmetric, in apparent contradiction to the Curie principle. Simulations, based on the Fokker-Planck equation, allow us to gain knowledge on the qualitative behaviour of our Brownian motor. Studies of Brownian motors, and in particular ones with unique control properties, are of fundamental interest because of the role they play in protein motors and their potential applications in nanotechnology. In particular, our system opens the way to the study of quantum Brownian motors.     

Rectification and phase locking of graphite

Rectification phenomena and the phase locking in a two-dimensional overdamped Frenkel–Kontorova model with a graphite periodic substrate were studied. The presence of dc and ac forces in the longitudinal direction causes the appearance of dynamicalmode locking and the steps in the response function of the system. On the other hand, the presence of an ac force in the transverse direction causes the appearance of rectification, even though there is no net dc force in the transverse direction. It is found that whereas the longitudinal velocity increases in a series of steps, rectification in the transverse direction can occur only between two neighbor steps. The amplitude and phase of the external ac driving force affect the depinning force, rectification of the system and particles trajectories.     

Directed electron transport through a ballistic quantum dot under microwave radiation

Rectification of microwave radiation by asymmetric ballistic dot is studied at different frequencies (1-40 GHz), temperatures, and magnetic fields. Dramatic reduction of the rectification is found in magnetic fields at which the cyclotron radius of electron orbits at the Fermi level is less than the size of the dot. With respect to the magnetic field, both symmetric and antisymmetric contributions to the rectification are presented. The symmetric part changes significantly with microwave frequency omega at omegatau_{f}>/=1, where tau_{f} is the time of the ballistic electron flight across the dot. The results lead consistently towards the ballistic origin of the effect, and can be explained by strongly nonlocal electron response to the microwave electric field, which affects both speed and direction of the electron motion inside the dot.     

Length dependence of rectification in organic co-oligomer spin rectifiers

The rectification ratio of organic magnetic co-oligomer diodes is investigated theoretically by changing the molecular length. The results reveal two distinct length dependences of the rectification ratio: for a short molecular diode, the chargecurrent rectification changes little with the increase of molecular length, while the spin-current rectification is weakened sharply by the length; for a long molecular diode, both the charge-current and spin-current rectification ratios increase quickly with the length. The two kinds of dependence switch at a specific length accompanied with an inversion of the rectifying direction. The molecular ortibals and spin-resolved transmission analysis indicate that the dominant mechanism of rectification suffers a change at this specific length, that is, from asymmetric shift of molecular eigenlevels to asymmetric spatial localization of wave functions upon the reversal of bias. This work demonstrates a feasible way to control the rectification in organic co-oligomer spin diodes by adjusting the molecular length.     

Controlling the motion of interacting particles: homogeneous systems and binary mixtures

We elaborate on recent results on the transport of interacting particles for both single-species and binary mixtures subject to an external driving on a ratchetlike asymmetric substrate. Moreover, we also briefly review motion control without any spatial asymmetric potential (i.e., no ratchet). Our results are obtained using an analytical approach based on a nonlinear Fokker-Planck equation as well as via numerical simulations. By increasing the particle density, the net dc ratchet current in our alternating (ac)-driven systems can either increase or decrease depending on the temperature, the drive amplitude, and the nature of the inter-particle interactions. This provides an effective control of particle motion by just changing the particle density. At low temperatures, attracting particles can condense at some potential minima, thus breaking the discrete translational symmetry of the substrate. Depending on the drive amplitude, an agglomeration or condensation results either in a drop to zero or in a saturation of the net particle velocity at densities above the condensation density-the latter case producing a very efficient rectification mechanism. For binary mixtures we find three ways of controlling the particle motion of one (passive) B species by means of another (active) A species: (i) Dragging the target particles B by driving the auxiliary particles A, (ii) rectifying the motion of the B particles on the asymmetric potential created by the A-B interactions, and (iii) dynamically modifying (pulsating) this potential by controlling the motion of the A particles. This allows to easily control the magnitude and direction of the velocity of the target particles by changing either the frequency, phase and/or amplitude of the applied ac drive(s).     

带孔硅纳米薄膜热整流及声子散射特性研究

本文基于非平衡的分子动力学模拟方法计算了带有三角形孔的硅纳米薄膜的界面热阻特性,结果表明300-1100 K范围内随着热流方向的改变,在含有三角形孔的硅纳米薄膜中存在热整流效应,热整流系数达28％.同时借助于声子波包动力学模拟方法,获得了不同频率下的纵波声子在三角形孔处的散射特性,结果表明纵波声子在散射过程中产生了横波声子,并且从三角形底部向顶部入射的声子能量透射系数比反向时平均低22％.不对称结构引起的声子透射率的差异是引起热整流效应的主要因素.     

Quantum-mechanical substantiation of a similar change in the kinetic energy component of an electron along the magnetic field within each Landau level

A detailed solution to the Schr?dinger equation for an electron in the presence of a quantizing magnetic field is considered using the method of separation of variables. The discrete energy levels occurring in this case are regarded as the potential barriers of finite height, with an electron moving normal to them along the magnetic-field direction. A similar change in the difference between the energy values within the neighboring Landau levels allows us to show, basing on the general properties of one-dimensional electron motion in the magnetic field, that within each quantum energy level, the kinetic-energy component of a longitudinal electron motion continuously is varied between 0 and 2μ_BH, whereas the probability density of particle location is practically damped into the potential-barrier depth as it moves along the magnetic-field direction. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 10, pp. 3–7, October, 2006.     

异质结碳纳米管的热整流效率

采用非平衡分子动力学方法, 通过分别控制异质结碳纳米管管径、手性和平均温度的方式研究了异质结碳纳米管的热整流效应. 研究表明, 随着异质结碳纳米管两端几何不对称性的增强, 其热整流效率会随之上升, 而异质结碳纳米管两端的手性的改变和夹角的大小都会对热整流效率产生一定的影响. 热整流效率会随着碳纳米管平均温度的上升而下降. 研究异质结碳纳米管热整流效率对于热二极管、碳纳米散热元器件等潜在应用价值有理论指导作用.     

Active Brownian motion tunable by light

Active Brownian particles are capable of taking up energy from their environment and converting it into directed motion; examples range from chemotactic cells and bacteria to artificial micro-swimmers. We have recently demonstrated that Janus particles, i.e.?gold-capped colloidal spheres, suspended in a critical binary liquid mixture perform active Brownian motion when illuminated by light. In this paper, we investigate in more detail their swimming mechanism, leading to active Brownian motion. We show that the illumination-borne heating induces a local asymmetric demixing of the binary mixture, generating a spatial chemical concentration gradient which is responsible for the particle's self-diffusiophoretic motion. We study this effect as a function of the functionalization of the gold cap, the particle size and the illumination intensity: the functionalization determines what component of the binary mixture is preferentially adsorbed at the cap and the swimming direction (towards or away from the cap); the particle size determines the rotational diffusion and, therefore, the random reorientation of the particle; and the intensity tunes the strength of the heating and, therefore, of the motion. Finally, we harness this dependence of the swimming strength on the illumination intensity to investigate the behavior of a micro-swimmer in a spatial light gradient, where its swimming properties are space-dependent.     

Rocking ratchets in two-dimensional Josephson networks: collective effects and current reversal

A detailed numerical study on the directed motion of ac-driven vortices and antivortices in 2D Josephson junction arrays with an asymmetric periodic pinning potential is reported. dc-voltage rectification shows a strong dependence on vortex density as well as an inversion of the vortex flow direction with ac amplitude for a wide range of vortex density around f = 1/2 (f = Ha(2)/Phi(0)), in good agreement with recent experiments by Shalóm and Pastoriza [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 177001 (2005)10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.177001]. The study of vortex structures, spatial and temporal correlations, and vortex-antivortex pairs formation gives insight into a purely collective mechanism behind the current reversal effect.     

溶液酸碱性对低聚苯亚乙炔基分子结电输运性质的影响

结合密度泛函理论和非平衡格林函数方法计算了溶液酸碱性对低聚苯亚乙炔基分子结电输运性质的影响,此低聚苯亚乙炔基分子中两个不同位置的H原子被氨基和羧基取代.通过质子化和去质子化模拟酸性溶液和碱性溶液对分子结构的影响.计算结果表明:中性环境下分子器件具有良好的导电性和微弱的整流效应;碱性溶液中羧基去质子化后,分子器件电流值增长近一倍,但整流效应变化不明显;酸性溶液中氨基质子化后,分子器件正向偏压导电性能略微降低,但整流方向发生明显反转,且与中性环境下的情况相比,整流比提高了近三倍.提出了一种利用化学手段控制分子结导电能力和整流性能的方法.