Experimental observation of current reversal in a rocking Brownian motor

Abstract

A reversal of the particle current in rocking Brownian motors was predicted more than 20 years ago; however, an experimental verification and a deeper insight into the underlying mechanisms remained elusive. Here, we investigate the high frequency behaviour of a rocking Brownian motor for charged nanoparticles based on electrostatic interactions in a 3D shaped nanofluidic slit and electro-osmotic forcing of the particles. A sub ms temporal and $\approx\,10\,$nm spatial resolution of the 60 nm gold spheres allows us to measure the time-resolved and frequency dependent evolution of the particle probability density in-situ. At 250 Hz the particle current changes sign, in agreement with a theoretical model based on the time-dependent Fokker-Planck equation. From this fit-parameter free description and its excellent agreement with the observed behaviour, we trace the origin of the current reversal to the asymmetric and increasingly static probability density at high frequencies.