TY - JOUR
T1 - Analytical approach to sorting in periodic and random potentials
AU - Gleeson, James P.
AU - Sancho, J. M.
AU - Lacasta, A. M.
AU - Lindenberg, Katja
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - There has been a recent revolution in the ability to manipulate micrometer-sized objects on surfaces patterned by traps or obstacles of controllable configurations and shapes. One application of this technology is to separate particles driven across such a surface by an external force according to some particle characteristic such as size or index of refraction. The surface features cause the trajectories of particles driven across the surface to deviate from the direction of the force by an amount that depends on the particular characteristic, thus leading to sorting. While models of this behavior have provided a good understanding of these observations, the solutions have so far been primarily numerical. In this paper we provide analytic predictions for the dependence of the angle between the direction of motion and the external force on a number of model parameters for periodic as well as random surfaces. We test these predictions against exact numerical simulations.
AB - There has been a recent revolution in the ability to manipulate micrometer-sized objects on surfaces patterned by traps or obstacles of controllable configurations and shapes. One application of this technology is to separate particles driven across such a surface by an external force according to some particle characteristic such as size or index of refraction. The surface features cause the trajectories of particles driven across the surface to deviate from the direction of the force by an amount that depends on the particular characteristic, thus leading to sorting. While models of this behavior have provided a good understanding of these observations, the solutions have so far been primarily numerical. In this paper we provide analytic predictions for the dependence of the angle between the direction of motion and the external force on a number of model parameters for periodic as well as random surfaces. We test these predictions against exact numerical simulations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33645826057&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevE.73.041102
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevE.73.041102
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33645826057
SN - 1539-3755
VL - 73
JO - Physical Review E - Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics
JF - Physical Review E - Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics
IS - 4
M1 - 041102
ER -