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Photosynthesis is remarkable, achieving near unity light harvesting quantum efficiency in spite of dynamic light conditions and noisy physiological environment. Under these adverse conditions, it remains unknown whether there exists a…
Biology offers a boundless source of adaptation, innovation, and inspiration. A wide range of photosynthetic organisms exist that are capable of harvesting solar light in an exceptionally efficient way, using abundant and low-cost…
Photosynthesis transfers energy efficiently through a series of antenna complexes to the reaction center where charge separation occurs. Energy transfer in vivo is primarily monitored by measuring fluorescence signals from the small…
Photosynthetic organisms use networks of chromophores to absorb sunlight and deliver the energy to reaction centres, where charge separation triggers a cascade of chemical steps to store the energy. We present a detailed model of the…
Photosynthetic complexes improve the transfer of excitation energy from peripheral antennas to reaction centers in several ways. In particular, a downward energy funnel can direct excitons in the right direction, while coherent excitonic…
Manipulating the flow of energy in nanoscale and molecular photonic devices is of both fundamental interest and central importance for applications in light harvesting optoelectronics. Under erratic solar irradiance conditions, unregulated…
We examine computational techniques and methodologies currently in use to explore electronic excitation energy transfer in the context of light-harvesting complexes in photosynthetic antenna systems, and comment on some new insights into…
Photosynthesis, the process by which energy from sunlight drives cellular metabolism, relies on a unique organization of light-harvesting and reaction center complexes. Recently, the organization of light-harvesting LH2 complexes and…
Most of our current understanding of mechanisms of photosynthesis comes from spectroscopy. However, classical definition of radio-antenna can be extended to optical regime to discuss the function of light-harvesting antennae. Further to our…
In natural light harvesting systems, the sequential quantum events of photon absorption by specialized biological antenna complexes, charge separation, exciton formation and energy transfer to localized reaction centers culminates in the…
Mechanisms to use nanoparticles to separate sunlight into photovoltaic useful range and thermally useful range to increase the efficiency of solar cells and to dissipate heat radiatively are discussed based upon lessons we learnt from…
We analyze a theoretical model for energy and electron transfer in an artificial photosynthetic system. The photosystem consists of a molecular triad (i.e., with a donor, a photosensitive unit, and an acceptor) coupled to four accessory…
We describe a method for simulating exciton dynamics in protein-pigment complexes, including effects from charge transfer as well as fluorescence. The method combines the hierarchical equations of motion, which are used to describe quantum…
Rate equations are used to model spectroscopic observation of incoherent energy transfer in light-harvesting antenna systems based upon known structures. A two-parameter two-dimensional model is proposed. The transfer rates obtained, by…
Efficient devices for light harvesting and photon sensing are fundamental building blocks of basic energy science and many essential technologies. Recent efforts have turned to biomimicry to design the next generation of light-capturing…
Giant strides in ultrashort laser pulse technology have enabled real-time observation of dynamical processes in complex molecular systems. Specifically, the discovery of oscillatory transients in the two-dimensional electronic spectra of…
The coherence of light has been proposed as a quantum-mechanical control for enhancing light-harvesting efficiency. In particular, optical coherence can be manipulated by changing either the polarization state or spectral phase of the…
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…
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…
Natural and artificial light harvesting systems often operate in a regime where the flux of photons is relatively low. Besides absorbing as many photons as possible it is therefore paramount to prevent excitons from annihilation via photon…