  Understanding the dynamics of ions in nanopores is essential for applications
ranging from single-molecule detection to DNA sequencing. We show both
analytically and by means of molecular dynamics simulations that under specific
conditions ion-ion interactions in nanopores lead to the phenomenon of ionic
Coulomb blockade, namely the build-up of ions inside a nanopore with specific
capacitance impeding the flow of additional ions due to Coulomb repulsion. This
is the counterpart of electronic Coulomb blockade observed in mesoscopic
systems. We discuss the analogies and differences with the electronic case as
well as experimental situations in which this phenomenon could be detected.
