Abstract
Exceptional point degeneracies, occurring in non-Hermitian systems, have challenged many well established concepts and led to the development of remarkable technologies. Here, we propose a family of autonomous motors whose operational principle relies on exceptional points via the opportune implementation of a (pseudo-)PT-symmetry and its spontaneous or explicit violation. These motors demonstrate a parameter domain of coexisting high efficiency and maximum work. In the photonic framework, they can be propelled by thermal radiation from the ambient thermal reservoirs and utilized as autonomous self-powered microrobots, or as micro-pumps for microfluidics in biological environments. The same designs can be also implemented with electromechanical elements for harvesting ambient mechanical (e.g., vibrational) noise for powering a variety of auxiliary systems. We expect that our proposal will contribute to the research agenda of energy harvesting by introducing concepts from mathematical and non-Hermitian wave physics.
Highlights
Exceptional point degeneracies, occurring in non-Hermitian systems, have challenged many well established concepts and led to the development of remarkable technologies
The objective of energy harvesting is to supply power to a variety of systems ranging from structural health monitoring systems to the billions of autonomous wireless sensors associated with the Internet of everything and to selfpowered micro-/nanorobots and micropumps for microfluidics in biological environments
The system consists of two thermal reservoirs at different temperatures TH > TC, which are brought in contact via a circuit. The latter is coupled to a mechanical degree of freedom (MDF) from which we extract work
Summary
Exceptional point degeneracies, occurring in non-Hermitian systems, have challenged many well established concepts and led to the development of remarkable technologies. We show that for a long—but finite—driving period of the MDF, these circuits act as autonomous radiative motors Their extracted power and efficiency are maximized when they are designed to operate in a domain of their parameter space that is in the vicinity of an EP degeneracy. Our predictions can guide the design toward optimal operational conditions of autonomous motors Their applicability extends beyond the photonic framework to other platforms like electromechanical circuits for harvesting mechanical (e.g., vibrational) ambient noise for the power supply of a variety of auxiliary systems[32,33,34,35,36,37]
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