Related papers: Superradiance Transition in Photosynthetic Light-H…
Underlying physical principles for the high efficiency of excitation energy transfer in light-harvesting complexes are not fully understood. Notably, the degree of robustness of these systems for transporting energy is not known considering…
A remarkable amount of theoretical research has been carried out to elucidate the physical origins of the recently observed long-lived quantum coherence in the electronic energy transfer process in biological photosynthetic systems.…
Several recent studies of energy transfer in photosynthetic light harvesting complexes have revealed a subtle interplay between coherent and decoherent dynamic contributions to the overall transfer efficiency in these open quantum systems.…
Energy transfer within photosynthetic systems can display quantum effects such as delocalized excitonic transport. Recently, direct evidence of long-lived coherence has been experimentally demonstrated for the dynamics of the…
Photosynthetic antenna complexes capture and concentrate solar radiation by transferring the excitation to the reaction center which stores energy from the photon in chemical bonds. This process occurs with near-perfect quantum efficiency.…
This thesis looks at the electronic energy transfer in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex, in which evidence of long-lived coherence has been observed in 2-dimensional infrared experiments. I use three techniques: the numerically exact…
We investigate the role of quantum coherence in the efficiency of excitation transfer in a ring-hub arrangement of interacting two-level systems, mimicking a light-harvesting antenna connected to a reaction center as it is found in natural…
For more than 50 years we have known that photosynthetic systems harvest solar energy with almost unit {\it quantum efficiency}. However, recent experimental evidence of {\it quantum coherence} during the excitonic energy transport in…
The fundamental physical mechanisms of energy transfer in photosynthetic complexes is not yet fully understood. In particular, the degree of efficiency or sensitivity of these systems for energy transfer is not known given their…
We demonstrate numerically that superradiance could play a significant role in nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) in light-harvesting complexes. Our model consists of a network of five interconnected sites (discrete excitonic states) that are…
During the first steps of photosynthesis, the energy of impinging solar photons is transformed into electronic excitation energy of the light-harvesting biomolecular complexes. The subsequent energy transfer to the reaction center is…
The presence of quantum effects in photosynthetic excitation energy transfer has been intensely debated over the past decade. Nonlinear spectroscopy cannot unambiguously distinguish coherent electronic dynamics from underdamped vibrational…
A generic and intuitive model for coherent energy transport in multiple minima systems coupled to a quantum mechanical bath is shown. Using a simple spin-boson system, we illustrate how a generic donor-acceptor system can be brought into…
The striking efficiency of energy transfer in natural photosynthetic systems and the recent evidence of long-lived quantum coherence in biological light harvesting complexes has triggered much excitement, due to the evocative possibility…
Elucidating quantum coherence effects and geometrical factors for efficient energy transfer in photosynthesis has the potential to uncover non-classical design principles for advanced organic materials. We study energy transfer in a linear…
We explore energy transfer in a generic three-level system, which is coupled to three non-equilibrium baths. Built on the concept of quantum heat engine, our three-level model describes non-equilibrium quantum processes including…
Transition-metal-oxide (TMO) heterostructures are promising candidates for building photon-harvesting devices which can exploit optimal quantum transport of charge excitations generated by light absorption. Here we address the explicit role…
Near-unity energy transfer efficiency has been widely observed in natural photosynthetic complexes. This phenomenon has attracted broad interest from different fields, such as physics, biology, chemistry and material science, as it may…
Primitive photosynthetic cells appear over three billion years prior to any other more complex life-forms, thus it is reasonable to assume that Nature has designed a photosynthetic mechanism using minimal resources but honed to perfection…
Light-harvesting via the transport and trapping of optically-induced electronic excitations is of fundamental interest to the design of new energy efficient quantum technologies. Using a paradigmatic quantum optical model, we study the…