Related papers: The charge shuttle as a nanomechanical ratchet
The majority of experimental realizations of single-electron sources rely on the periodic manipulation of the tunnel junctions through their gate voltages, and thus require a high level of control over the system. To circumvent the…
We derive within a time-dependent scattering formalism expressions for both the current through ac-driven nanoscale conductors and its fluctuations. The results for the time-dependent current, its time average, and, above all, the driven…
The transitory and stationary behavior of a quantum chaotic ratchet consisting of a biharmonic potential under the effect of different drivings in contact with a thermal environment is studied. For weak forcing and finite $\hbar$, we…
We propose to operate a locally-gated charge density wave as an electron pump. Applying an oscillating gate potential with frequency $f$ causes equally spaced plateaux in the sliding charge density wave current separated by $\Delta I=2eNf,$…
The concept of ratchets, driven asymmetric periodic structures giving rise to directed particle flow, has recently been generalized to a quantum ratchet mechanism for spin currents mediated through spin-orbit interaction. Here we consider…
We report on the observation of the ratchet effect -- generation of direct electric current in response to external terahertz (THz) radiation -- in bilayer graphene, where inversion symmetry is broken by an asymmetric dual-grating gate…
We report on experimental evidence of directed electron transport, induced by external linear-polarized microwave irradiation, in a two-dimensional spatially-periodic asymmetrical system called ratchet. The broken spatial symmetry was…
Feedback flashing ratchets are thermal rectifiers that use information on the state of the system to operate the switching on and off of a periodic potential. They can induce directed transport even with symmetric potentials thanks to the…
We study analytically and numerically the ratchet transport of interacting particles induced by a monochromatic driving in asymmetric two-dimensional structures. The ratchet flow is preserved in the limit of strong interactions and can…
We discuss a problem of optimization of the energetic efficiency of a simple rocked ratchet. We concentrate on a low-temperature case in which the particle's motion in a ratchet potential is deterministic. We show that the energetic…
Cold atoms in optical lattices have emerged as an ideal system to investigate the ratchet effect, as demonstrated by several recent experiments. In this work we analyze theoretically two aspects of ac driven transport in cold atoms…
We revisit the issue of directed motion induced by zero average forces in extended systems driven by ac forces. It has been shown recently that a directed energy current appears if the ac external force, $f(t)$, breaks the symmetry $f(t) =…
We demonstrate that the combined effect of a spatially periodic potential, lateral confinement and spin-orbit interaction gives rise to a quantum ratchet mechanism for spin-polarized currents in two-dimensional coherent conductors. Upon…
Nanomechanical shuttles transferring small groups of electrons or even individual electrons from one electrode to another offer a novel approach to the problem of controlled charge transport. Here, we report the fabrication of…
We investigate experimentally a deterministic underdamped Josephson vortex ratchet -- a fluxon-particle moving along a Josephson junction in an asymmetric periodic potential. By applying a sinusoidal driving current one can compel the…
We develop a theoretic description of the photogalvanic current induced by a high frequency radiation in asymmetric nanostructures and show that it describes well the results of numerical simulations. Our studies allow to understand the…
The efficiency of energy transduction in a temporally asymmetric rocked ratchet is studied. Time asymmetry favours current in one direction and suppresses it in the opposite direction due to which large efficiency ~ 50% is readily obtained.…
The driving of charge carriers confined in a quantum well lacking the center of space inversion by an alternating electric field leads to the formation of a direct electric current. We develop a microscopic theory of such a quantum ratchet…
We study the appearance of directed current in tunnel junctions, quantum ratchet effect, in the presence of an external ac field f(t). The current is established in a one-dimensional discrete inhomogeneous "tight-binding model". By making…
We present a theoretical study of ac charge transport arising from adiabatic temporal variation of zero-field spin splitting in a quasi-onedimensional hole system (realized, e.g., in a quantum wire or point contact). As in…