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Updated: Jul 19, 2025

Generating Controlled, Dynamic Chemical Landscapes to Study Microbial Behavior

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Published on: January 31, 2020

Information Engine in a Nonequilibrium Bath.

Tushar K Saha¹, Jannik Ehrich^1,2, Momčilo Gavrilov¹

¹Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6 Canada.

Physical Review Letters

|August 18, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Information engines harness thermal fluctuations for work. Out-of-equilibrium baths significantly boost work extraction, showing potential for advanced energy harvesting applications.

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Area of Science:

Thermodynamics
Statistical Mechanics
Nanotechnology

Background:

Information engines convert thermal fluctuations into work.
Conventional engines operate with equilibrium baths.
Nonequilibrium baths present opportunities for enhanced energy extraction.

Purpose of the Study:

To experimentally investigate work extraction by information engines in nonequilibrium baths.
To quantify the enhancement in work extraction due to fluctuating external fields.
To explore the connection between Maxwell's demon and practical energy harvesting.

Main Methods:

Utilizing a micron-scale bead in a harmonic potential as the information engine.
Subjecting the system to a bath with a fluctuating electric field.
Measuring work extraction rates under varying field strengths.

Main Results:

Work extraction was significantly increased in nonequilibrium baths.
Adding a fluctuating electric field enhanced work extraction up to tenfold.
The enhancement was limited by the applied field strength.

Conclusions:

Information engines in nonequilibrium baths can outperform conventional engines.
Fluctuating fields in nonequilibrium baths offer a route to greater energy harvesting.
This work bridges theoretical concepts like Maxwell's demon with practical energy applications.