Strong enhancement of current, efficiency and mass separation in Brownian motors driven by non Gaussian noises

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We study a Brownian motor driven by a colored non Gaussian noise source with a q-dependent probability distribution, where q is a parameter indicating the departure from Gaussianity. For q=1 the noise is Gaussian (Ornstein--Uhlenbeck), while, for q>1, the probability distribution falls like a power law. In the latter case, we find a marked enhancement of both the current and the efficiency of the Brownian motor in the overdamped regime. We also analyze the case with inertia and show that, again for q > 1, a remarkable increase of the ratchet's mass separation capability is obtained.