Diffusion and percolation in anisotropic random barrier models

An anisotropic random barrier model is presented, in which the transition probabilities in different directions have different probability density functions. At low temperatures, the anisotropic long-time diffusion coefficients, obtained using an effective medium approximation, follow an Arrhenius temperature dependence, with the same activation energy for each direction. Such activation energy is related to the anisotropic percolation properties of the lattice, and can be analyzed in terms of the critical percolation path approximation. The anisotropic effective medium approximation is shown to predict the correct percolation threshold for an anisotropic two-dimensional square lattice. In addition, results are compared with numerical simulations using a fast kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm.