Transport and fractionation in periodic potential-energy landscapes.
Objects driven through periodically modulated potential-energy landscapes in two dimensions can become locked in to symmetry-selected directions that are independent of the driving force's orientation. We investigate this problem in the overdamped limit, and demonstrate that the crossover from free-flowing to locked-in transport can depend exponentially on an object's size, with this exceptional selectivity emerging from the landscape's periodicity.
Pelton
Matthew
M
Department of Physics and James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
Ladavac
Kosta
K
Grier
David G
DG