Brownian ratchets are nanodevices capable of extracting useful work from environmental noise to create directed motion of particles in the absence of a net force. Research in this area is inspired by biomolecular motors that power the processes of life by utilizing random fluctuations in their environment. These naturally occurring nanodevices are several orders of magnitude more efficient than state-of-the-art artificial nanodevices. Cold atoms in an optical lattice have emerged as an ideal system for studying the optimization of Brownian ratcheting as this type of system allows for precise control over the atoms and their interactions with their environment. An optical lattice is a periodic potential formed by the interference of two or more laser beams. The conditions of this system can be easily altered by adjusting the frequency and intensity of the interfering lasers. Making precise adjustments to the laser beams can allow for the system to reach stochastic resonance, the phenomenon believed to be responsible for the extreme efficiency of biomolecular motors. In our lab, we have recently made a first observation of stochastic resonance in an optical lattice, yet motion was limited to only one direction. Future work is aimed towards achieving ratcheting in a chosen arbitrary direction.
Presenters: Sara McGinnis and Katherine Robben, Physics
Mentors: S. Oliver, C. Pandya, H. Balla, and S. Bali
Advisor(s): Samir Bali, Department of Physics
You must be logged in to post a comment.