Related papers: Suppressing photochemical reactions with quantized…
The process of photosynthesis, the main source of energy in the animate world, converts sunlight into chemical energy. The surprisingly high efficiency of this process is believed to be enabled by an intricate interplay between the quantum…
Multi-photon absorption is a well-known phenomenon. With atom lasers a similar process could take place for massive particles, the ionization of an atom or molecule by the successive interaction with various particles. This process would…
Panchromatic absorbing materials are widely regarded as a key strategy for enhancing solar energy utilization and photocurrent generation. However, in artificial molecular systems, broadening the absorption spectrum is often accompanied by…
We discuss recent progress towards the establishment of important structure-property-function relationships in eumelanins - key functional bio-macromolecular systems responsible for photo-protection and immune response in humans, and…
Photosynthesis is the basic process used by plants to convert light energy in reaction centers into chemical energy. The high efficiency of this process is not yet understood today. Using the formalism for the description of open quantum…
This is a tutorial-style introduction to the field of molecular polaritons. We describe the basic physical principles and consequences of strong light-matter coupling common to molecular ensembles embedded in UV-visible or infrared…
The absorption of thin hydrogenated amorphous silicon layers can be efficiently enhanced through a controlled periodic patterning. Light is trapped through coupling with photonic Bloch modes of the periodic structures, which act as an…
A uniform minimal model of rhodopsin photoisomerization induced by either coherent laser light or low level incoherent light (e.g. moonlight) is provided. Realistic timescales for both processes, which differ by ten orders of magnitude, are…
Light-activated drugs are a promising way to localize biological activity and minimize side effects. However, their development is complicated by the numerous photophysical and biological properties that must be simultaneously optimized. To…
Quantum interference between multiple pathways in molecular photodissociation often results in angular momentum polarization of atomic products and this can give deep insight into fundamental physical processes. For dissociation of diatomic…
Energetic processing of interstellar ice mantles and planetary atmospheres via photochemistry is a critical mechanism in the extraterrestrial synthesis of prebiotic molecules. Photochemistry is defined as chemical processes initiated by…
Coupling photons to Rydberg excitations in a cold atomic gas yields unprecedentedly large optical nonlinearities at the level of individual light quanta, where the formation of nearby dark-state polaritons is blocked by the strong…
When atoms come together and bond, we call these new states molecules, and their properties determine many aspects of our daily life. Strangely enough, it is conceivable for light and molecules to bond, creating new hybrid light-matter…
The emergence of oxygenic photosynthesis created a new niche with dramatic potential to transform energy flow through Earth's biosphere. However, more primitive forms of photosynthesis that fix CO2 into biomass using electrons from reduced…
We report on the fabrication of two-dimensional periodic photonic nanostructures by nanoimprint lithography and dry etching, and their integration into a 1-{\mu}m-thin mono-crystalline silicon solar cell. Thanks to the periodic…
The study of how photosynthetic organisms convert light offers insight not only into nature's evolutionary process, but may also give clues as to how best to design and manipulate artificial photosynthetic systems -- and also how far we can…
The absorption of a single photon that excites a quantum system from a low to a high energy level is an elementary process of light-matter interaction, and a route towards realizing pure single-photon absorption has both fundamental and…
The polarisation of light is a powerful and widely used degree of freedom to encode information, both in classical and quantum applications. In particular, quantum information technologies based on photons are being revolutionised by the…
Plasmonic materials have got wide attention as a potential candidate for light driven catalysis of chemical conversions by harnessing solar energy to reduce the environmental issues generated by fossil fuels-based bulk chemical industries.…
The interaction of light with photosynthetic proteins is an extremely efficient process and has been thoroughly investigated. However, exploring light-matter interactions in hybrid nano-solid-photosynthetic proteins is a relatively new and…