Structure and dynamics of interacting Brownian particles in one-dimensional periodic substrates

We study both the structural and dynamic properties of charged colloids in one-dimensional periodic substrates. The dependence of the static structure and diffusion properties on the density and substrate parameters is investigated by means of Brownian dynamics simulations. We find that the competition between both particle-particle and particle-substrate interactions leads to a rich variety of adsorbate phases or particle distributions. We also demonstrate that the mean-square displacement, W(t), at long times shows the typical non-Fickian behaviour, W(t) alpha t(1/2), even for periodic substrates. Moreover, we show that the depinning of the particles can be directly quantified through a loss of correlations in the structure or an enhancement of the particle mobility factor.