Divergence of the chaotic layer width and strong acceleration of the spatial chaotic transport in periodic systems driven by an adiabatic ac force.

We show for the first time that a weak perturbation in a Hamiltonian system may lead to an arbitrarily wide chaotic layer and fast chaotic transport. This generic effect occurs in any spatially periodic Hamiltonian system subject to a sufficiently slow ac force. We explain it and develop an explicit theory for the layer width, verified in simulations. Chaotic spatial transport as well as applications to the diffusion of particles on surfaces, threshold devices, and others are discussed.