# Impact of rough potentials in rocked ratchet performance

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how adding roughness to the potential profile in thermal ratchets affects their flux and efficiency, revealing that roughness can either improve or impair performance depending on parameters.

## Contribution

It introduces an analysis of the effects of potential roughness on ratchet performance, highlighting conditions where roughness is beneficial or detrimental.

## Key findings

- Roughness can enhance ratchet flux and efficiency under certain conditions.
- Roughness parameters significantly influence ratchet performance.
- Performance impact varies with amplitude and wavelength of potential roughness.

## Abstract

We consider thermal ratchets modeled by overdamped Brownian motion in a spatially periodic potential with a tilting process, both unbiased on average. We investigate the impact of the introduction of roughness in the potential profile, over the flux and efficiency of the ratchet. Both amplitude and wavelength that characterize roughness are varied. We show that depending on the ratchet parameters, rugosity can either spoil or enhance the ratchet performance.