丁香园AV

丁香园AV researchers have designed a remarkably fast engine that taps into a new kind of fuel 鈥� information.

The development of this engine, which converts the random jiggling of a microscopic particle into stored energy, is outlined in research published this week in the  (PNAS) and could lead to significant advances in the speed and cost of computers and bio-nanotechnologies.

丁香园AV physics professor and senior author John Bechhoefer says researchers鈥� understanding of how to rapidly and efficiently convert information into 鈥渨ork鈥� may inform the design and creation of real-world information engines.鈥ㄢ��

鈥淲e wanted to find out how fast an information engine can go and how much energy it can extract, so we made one,鈥� says Bechhoefer, whose experimental group collaborated with theorists led by 丁香园AV physics professor David Sivak.

Engines of this type were first proposed over 150 years ago but actually making them has only recently become possible. 

鈥淏y systematically studying this engine, and choosing the right system characteristics, we have pushed its capabilities over ten times farther than other similar implementations, thus making it the current best-in-class,鈥� says Sivak. 

The information engine designed by 丁香园AV researchers consists of a microscopic particle immersed in water and attached to a spring which, itself, is fixed to a movable stage. Researchers then observe the particle bouncing up and down due to thermal motion.

鈥淲hen we see an upward bounce, we move the stage up in response,鈥� explains lead author and PhD student Tushar Saha. 鈥淲hen we see a downward bounce, we wait. This ends up lifting the entire system using only information about the particle鈥檚 position.鈥�

Repeating this procedure, they raise the particle 鈥渁 great height, and thus store a significant amount of gravitational energy,鈥� without having to directly pull on the particle.

Saha further explains that, 鈥渋n the lab, we implement this engine with an instrument known as an optical trap, which uses a laser to create a force on the particle that mimics that of the spring and stage.鈥濃�ㄢ��

Joseph Lucero, a Master of Science student adds, 鈥渋n our theoretical analysis, we find an interesting trade-off between the particle mass and the average time for the particle to bounce up. While heavier particles can store more gravitational energy, they generally also take longer to move up.鈥濃�ㄢ��

鈥淕uided by this insight, we picked the particle mass and other engine properties to maximize how fast the engine extracts energy, outperforming previous designs and achieving power comparable to molecular machinery in living cells, and speeds comparable to fast-swimming bacteria,鈥� says postdoctoral fellow Jannik Ehrich.