The widespread use of molecular machines in biology has long suggested that great
rewards could come from bridging the gap between synthetic molecular systems and the …

Since their invention in 1986 by Arthur Ashkin and colleagues, optical tweezers have
become an essential tool in several fields of physics, spectroscopy, biology …

The relationship between thermodynamics and statistical physics is valid in the
thermodynamic limit—when the number of particles becomes very large. Here we study …

Optical tweezers use the forces exerted by a strongly focused beam of light to trap and move
objects ranging in size from tens of nanometres to tens of micrometres. Since their …

Since the subject of traffic dynamics has captured the interest of physicists, many surprising
effects have been revealed and explained. Some of the questions now understood are the …

The techniques of optical trap** and manipulation of neutral particles by lasers provide
unique means to control the dynamics of small particles. These new experimental methods …

Transport phenomena in spatially periodic systems far from thermal equilibrium are
considered. The main emphasis is put on directed transport in so-called Brownian motors …

Attempts to fabricate mechanical devices on the molecular level, have yielded analogues of
rotors, gears, switches, shuttles,, turnstiles and ratchets. Molecular motors, however, have …

The widespread use of controlled molecular‐level motion in key natural processes suggests
that great rewards could come from bridging the gap between the present generation of …

In systems possessing spatial or dynamical symmetry breaking, Brownian motion combined
with unbiased external input signals, deterministic and random alike, can assist directed …