Flashing ratchet model with high efficiency.
As a simple model of the Brownian motor, we consider hopping motion of a particle in a periodic asymmetric double-well potential which randomly switches between two states. The potential profiles of the states are identical but shifted by half a period. The current and the efficiency are explicitly calculated as functions of the parameters of the model, including also a load force. Such a flashing ratchet is shown to be particularly efficient, with the efficiency tending to unity when the highest peak of the potential is high enough to suppress the backward motion.
Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 23-166, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
Yu A
YA
Makhnovskii
V M
VM
Rozenbaum
D-Y
DY
Yang
S H
SH
Lin
T Y
TY
Tsong