Giant oscillations of diffusion in ac-driven periodic systems

TL;DR

This paper investigates how diffusion in a symmetric periodic potential under periodic driving can exhibit giant oscillations in the diffusion coefficient, linked to trajectory locking and running states, with implications for various physical systems.

Contribution

It reveals the existence of giant damped quasiperiodic oscillations of diffusion in ac-driven systems and identifies the mechanism involving trajectory locking differences.

Findings

Diffusion coefficient shows giant oscillations with driving amplitude.

Oscillations are linked to differences in locked and running trajectories.

Results are applicable to colloids, Josephson junctions, and cold atoms.

Abstract

We revisit the problem of diffusion in a driven system consisting of an inertial Brownian particle moving in a symmetric periodic potential and subjected to a symmetric time-periodic force. We reveal parameter domains in which diffusion is normal in the long time limit and exhibits intriguing giant damped quasiperiodic oscillations as a function of the external driving amplitude. As the mechanism behind this effect we identify the corresponding oscillations of difference in the number of locked and running trajectories which carries the leading contribution to the diffusion coefficient. Our findings can be verified experimentally in a multitude of physical systems including colloidal particles, Josephson junction or cold atoms dwelling in optical lattices, to name only a few.