Speeding up Brownian escape via intermediate finite potential barriers

The mean first-passage time (MFPT) for a Brownian particle to surmount a potential barrier of height ΔU is a fundamental quantity governing a wide array of physical and chemical processes. According to the Arrhenius law, the MFPT typically grows exponentially with increasing barrier height, reflecting the rarity of thermally activated escape events. In this work, we demonstrate that the MFPT can be significantly reduced by reshaping the original single-barrier potential into a structured energy landscape comprising multiple intermediate barriers of lower heights, while keeping the total barrier height ΔU unchanged. Furthermore, this counterintuitive result holds across both linear and nonlinear potential profiles. Our findings suggest that tailoring the energy landscape—by introducing well-placed intermediate barriers—can serve as an effective control strategy to accelerate thermally activated transitions. These predictions are amenable to experimental validation using optical trapping techniques.