RT Journal Article
T1 Brownian Carnot engine
A1 Martínez, Ignacio A.
A1 Roldán, Édgar
A1 Dinis Vizcaíno, Luis Ignacio
A1 Petrov, Dmitri
A1 Rodríguez Parrondo, Juan Manuel
A1 Rica, Raúl A.
AB The Carnot cycle imposes a fundamental upper limit to the efficiency of a macroscopic motor operating between two thermal baths. However, this bound needs to be reinterpreted at microscopic scales, where molecular bio-motors and some artificial micro-engines operate. As described by stochastic thermodynamics, energy transfers in microscopic systems are random and thermal fluctuations induce transient decreases of entropy, allowing for possible violations of the Carnot limit. Here we report an experimental realization of a Carnot engine with a single optically trapped Brownian particle as the working substance. We present an exhaustive study of the energetics of the engine and analyse the fluctuations of the finite-time efficiency, showing that the Carnot bound can be surpassed for a small number of non-equilibrium cycles. As its macroscopic counterpart, the energetics of our Carnot device exhibits basic properties that one would expect to observe in any microscopic energy transducer operating with baths at different temperatures. Our results characterize the sources of irreversibility in the engine and the statistical properties of the efficiency-an insight that could inspire new strategies in the design of efficient nano-motors.
PB Nature publishing group
SN 1745-2473
YR 2016
FD 2016-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/24516
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/24516
LA eng
NO © 2016 Nature publishing groupI.A.M., E.R., D.P. and R.A.R. acknowledge financial support from Fundacio Privada Cellex Barcelona. I.A.M., D.P. and R.A.R. acknowledge financial support from grant NanoMQ (FIS2011-24409, MINECO). I.A.M. acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council Grant OUTEFLUCOP. E.R., L.D. and J.M.R.P. acknowledge financial support from grant ENFASIS (FIS2011-22644, MINECO) and TerMic (FIS2014-52486-R, MINECO). We wish to acknowledge the work of S. Corcuff at the earliest stage of the project and fruitful discussions with R. Brito. D. Petrov passed away on 3 February 2014. He initiated the development of this project while he was the leader of the Optical Tweezers group at ICFO. We mourn the loss of a great colleague and friend.
NO Unión Europea. FP7
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)
NO Fundació Privada Cellex Barcelona
NO European Research Council
DS Docta Complutense
RD 7 abr 2025