Energy relaxation during thermally activated diffusion along one-dimensional chains with site disorder

The energy relaxation during thermally activated diffusion along one-dimensional chains with equally spaced traps of random energy depths has been studied both analytically and by computer simulations. Several time intervals, where the mean particle energy exhibits distinct temporal and temperature behaviors, have been identified. The explicit forms of these dependencies within each of the intervals are specified. The results show that the relaxation of the mean particle energy and the time evolution of the average barrier height, probed by diffusing particles, follow a logarithmic law rather than the Kohlrausch–Williams–Watt phenomenology.