Thermal ratchet effects in ferrofluids

Abstract

Rotational Brownian motion of colloidal magnetic particles in ferrofluids under the influence of an oscillating external magnetic field is investigated. It is shown that for a suitable time dependence of the magnetic field, a noise induced rotation of the ferromagnetic particles due to rectification of thermal fluctuations takes place. Via viscous coupling, the associated angular momentum is transferred from the magnetic nano-particles to the carrier liquid and can then be measured as macroscopic torque on the fluid sample. A thorough theoretical analysis of the effect in terms of symmetry considerations, analytical approximations, and numerical solutions is given which is in accordance with recent experimental findings.