The hopping motion of noninteracting classical particles through nonsymmetric potentials is investigated in the case of alternating local bias. Different to the case of alternating global bias, a resonancelike behavior is observed. The system exhibits rectification effects in the regime of small to medium bias, whereas rectification effects are absent in the strong bias regime. Possible generalizations and applications are outlined.

• Received 28 February 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.64.021109