The theory of Laplacian transport towards and across irregular surfaces is reformulated in terms of the Dirichlet-to-Neumann operator and its spectral characteristics. This permits us to obtain an exact equivalent circuit for the impedance of a working interface of arbitrary shape. The important result is that only very few eigenmodes of this operator do govern the entire response of a macroscopic system. This property drastically simplifies the understanding of irregular or prefractal interfaces. The results can be applied in electrochemistry, physiology and chemical engineering, fields where exchange processes across surfaces with complex geometry are ubiquitous.

• Received 11 May 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.73.021103