Molecular motor based entirely on the Coulomb interaction.
A molecular motor is introduced which is composed of charges only and which does not contain any potential or interaction besides the Coulomb one. The motor is shown to transform efficiently a driven random rotation into a directed translational motion. The direction of translational motion can be chosen dynamically, so that a "forward gear," a "reverse gear," and even a "neutral gear" exist. The high efficiency stems from the fact that this motor only steps in the direction determined by the chosen gear.
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Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Nöthnitzer Strasze 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany.