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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Correlation-enhanced stability of microscopic cyclic heat engines

Guo-Hua Xu1,* and Gentaro Watanabe1,2,†

  • 1Department of Physics and Zhejiang Institute of Modern Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China
  • 2Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Quantum Technology and Device, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China

  • *guohuax@zju.edu.cn
  • †gentaro@zju.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Research 4, L032017 – Published 1 August, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.L032017

Abstract

For cyclic heat engines operating in a finite cycle period, thermodynamic quantities have intercycle and intracycle correlations. By tuning the driving protocol appropriately, we can get the negative intercycle correlation to reduce the fluctuation of work through multiple cycles, which leads to the enhanced stability compared to the single-cycle operation. Taking the Otto engine with an overdamped Brownian particle as a working substance, we identify a scenario to get such enhanced stability by the intercycle correlation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the enhancement can be readily realized in the current experiments for a wide range of protocols. By tuning the parameters within the experimentally achievable range, the uncertainty of work can be reduced to below ∼50%.

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Outline

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Phys. Rev. Research 4, L032017– Published 1 August, 2022
  • Received 3 December 2021
  • Revised 24 June 2022
  • Accepted 6 July 2022
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