Suppression of diffusion by a weak external field in periodic potentials

Diffusion of overdamped Brownian particles in sawtooth potentials subject to a spatially uniform tilt is studied focusing on the influence of a small bias. It is shown that in the potentials with an asymmetry in the direction of tilting force, the application of a weak external force leads to a suppression of diffusive motion: the diffusion coefficient as a function of bias passes through a minimum which precedes an increase of diffusion caused by delocalization of particles. In the weak noise limit the effect can be understood as a competition between the forward and backward escape rates over potential barriers determining the behaviour of the diffusion coefficient in a weak external field. The asymptotic lower border for the reduction of spreading of particles at fixed temperature is established. The decrease of diffusion is accompanied by more rapid increase of current. Copyright EDP Sciences/Società Italiana di Fisica/Springer-Verlag 2005