Brownian motors

By P. Hänggi, Fabio Marchesoni, Franco Nori. 2004

557 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In systems possessing a spatial or dynamical symmetry breaking, thermal Brownian motion combined with unbiased, non‐equilibrium noise gives rise to a channelling of chance that can be used to exercise control over systems at the micro‐ and even on the nano‐scale. This theme is known as the “Brownian motor” concept. The constructive role of (the generally overdamped) Brownian motion is exemplified for a noise‐induced transport of particles within various set‐ups. We first present the working principles and characteristics with a proof‐of‐principle device, a diffusive temperature Brownian motor. Next, we consider very recent applications based on the phenomenon of signal mixing. The latter is particularly simple to implement experimentally in order to optimize and selectively control a rich variety of directed transport behaviors. The subtleties and also the potential for Brownian motors operating in the quantum regime are outlined and some state‐of‐the‐art applications, together with future roadways, are presented.

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1106cd018717f98cba4477a34074d22debc7719e

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

1. Sahel Ashhab
2. I. Georgescu
3. Franco Nori
4. P. Hänggi
5. Gang Zhang
6. Baowen Li
7. Fabio Marchesoni
8. Nianbei Li

In Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

1. P. Hänggi
2. Sahel Ashhab
3. Paolo D'Odorico
4. S. Kohler
5. Gang Zhang
6. Jörg Lehmann
7. Jörn Dunkel
8. I. Georgescu

Citations in the corpus

• Quantum Simulation (2013, background): “Another direction of interest is quantum heat engines, quantum Brownian motion (Hänggi and Marchesoni, 2009; Hänggi et al., 2005) and quantum thermodynamics (Maruyama et al.”
• Relativistic Brownian Motion (2008, background): “A few recent papers [22, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200] have raised doubts about the correctness of Jüttner’s results [186, 194], but relativistic molecular dynamics simulations confirm Jüttner’s prediction [201, 202], cf. discussion in Sections 3.2.2 and 4.3 below.”
• Driven quantum transport on the nanoscale (2004, background): “This effect has been established also within the regime of dissipative, incoherent quantum Brownian motion [77–79].”
• Colloquium : Phononics: Manipulating heat flow with electronic analogs and beyond (2011, background): “Such forcing makes possible the realization of a plenitude of novel phenomena such as the heat ratchet effect, absolute negative heat conductance or the realization of Brownian (heat) motors, to name but a few (Astumian and Hänggi, 2002; Hänggi and Marchesoni, 2009; Hänggi et al., 2005).”
• Noise-Induced Phenomena in the Environmental Sciences (2011, background): “, Ajdai and Prost, 1992; and Magnasco, 1993) gave a new impetus to studies on noise-induced transport, with an increasing number of experimental and theoretical results along with several technological applications (Reimann, 2002; Astunian and Hanggi, 2002).”
• Artificial Brownian motors: Controlling transport on the nanoscale (2008, background): “A typical example are motile bacteria that “swim” in a suspension fluid by rotating or waving their flagella (Astumian, 2007; Astumian and Hänggi, 2002).”