One famous limit of thermodynamics is that heat engines, like steam engines and internal combustion engines, must be less efficient than a Carnot heat engine (a heat engine cycle designed by French ...

Since its inception about two centuries ago thermodynamics has sparkled continuous interest and fundamental questions. According to the second law no heat engine can have an efficiency larger than ...

Engineers have reported on the development of a microscopic motor operating between two thermal baths, that is, a micro Carnot engine. In a recent study published in Nature Physics, ICFO researchers ...