title: Deterministic ratchet from stationary light fields.
abstract: Ratchets are dynamic systems where particle transport is induced by zero-average forces due to the interplay between nonlinearity and asymmetry. Generally, they rely on the effect of a strong external driving. We show that stationary optical lattices can be designed to generate particle flow in one direction while requiring neither noise nor driving. Such optical fields must be arranged to yield a combination of conservative (dipole) and nonconservative (radiation pressure) forces. Under strong friction all paths converge to a discrete set of limit periodic trajectories flowing in the same direction.
authors.affiliation: Departamento Física de Materiales, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, E-28040 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zapata
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Albaladejo
authors.forename: J M R
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Parrondo
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Sáenz
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sols
mesh_terms: D001704:Biopolymers; D003102:Colloids; D007700:Kinetics; D008027:Light; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers; D003102:Colloids