Entropy Production in an Elementary, Light Driven Micro-Machine

0535820 - ÚPT 2021 RIV CH eng J - Journal Article
Box, J.S. - Allen, M.P. - Phillips, D. B. - Simpson, Stephen Hugh
Entropy Production in an Elementary, Light Driven Micro-Machine.
Frontiers in Physics. -, NOV (2020), č. článku 593122. ISSN 2296-424X. E-ISSN 2296-424X
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA19-17765S; GA MŠMT EF15_003/0000476
Institutional support: RVO:68081731
Keywords : non-equilibrium thermodynamics * Brownian motion * micro-machines * fluctuations * fluctuations
OECD category: Optics (including laser optics and quantum optics)
Impact factor: 3.560, year: 2020
Method of publishing: Open access
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphy.2020.593122/full

We consider the basic, thermodynamic properties of an elementary micro-machine operating at colloidal length scales. In particular, we track and analyze the driven stochastic motion of a carefully designed micro-propeller rotating unevenly in an optical tweezers, in water. In this intermediate regime, the second law of macroscopic thermodynamics is satisfied only as an ensemble average, and individual trajectories can be temporarily associated with decreases in entropy. We show that our light driven micro-propeller satisfies an appropriate fluctuation theorem that constrains the probability with which these apparent violations of the second law occur. Implications for the development of more complex micro-machines are discussed.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0313746