Charge ratchet from spin flip: space-time symmetry paradox

Abstract

Traditionally the charge ratchet effect is considered as a consequence of either the spatial symmetry breaking engineered by asymmetric periodic potentials, or time asymmetry of the driving fields. Here we demonstrate that electrically and magnetically driven quantum dissipative systems with spin-orbit interactions represent an exception from this standard idea. In contrast to the so far well established belief, a charge ratchet effect appears when both the periodic potential and driving are symmetric. We show that the source of this paradoxical charge ratchet mechanism is the coexistence of quantum dissipation with the spin flip processes induced by spin-orbit interactions.

5 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (7)

• Artificial Brownian motors: Controlling transport on the nanoscale
• Quantum ratchet effect for vortices
• Ratchet effects induced by terahertz radiation in heterostructures with a lateral periodic potential
• ac-driven atomic quantum motor
• Quantum dissipative Rashba spin ratchets
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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Quantum transport in Rashba spin-orbit materials: A review
• Ratchet effects in two-dimensional systems with a lateral periodic potential
• Coherent Quantum Ratchets Driven by Tunnel Oscillations
• Terahertz spin ratchet effect in magnetic metamaterials
• Spin-Orbit Based Coherent Spin Ratchets
• Quantum ratchet with Lindblad rate equations