Related papers: Structure and efficiency in bacterial photosynthet…
We model energy transfer between two coupled four-level chromophores with arbitrarily spaced energy levels. Our analysis takes into account the crucial---yet often ignored---process of initial excitation by light that is incident on the…
The most recent crystal structure of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) protein complex indicates that each subunit contains an additional eighth chromophore. It has been proposed that this extra site functions as a link between the chlorosome…
We perform a quantum mechanical study of the peptides that are part of the LH2 complex from Rhodopseudomonas acidophila, a non-sulfur purple bacteria that has the ability of producing chemical energy from photosynthesis. The electronic…
The paper presents a critical analysis of publications devoted to one of the methods for production of the so-called "slow light" (the light with an anomalously low group velocity) due to extremely high local steepness of the dispersion…
We extract the site energies and spectral densities of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) pigment protein complex of green sulphur bacteria from simulations of molecular dynamics combined with energy gap calculations. Comparing four different…
We discuss a model of quantum photosynthesis with degeneracy in the light-harvesting system. We consider interaction of excitons in chromophores with light and phonons (vibrations of environment). These interactions have dipole form but are…
Photosynthesis converts sunlight into the chemical free energy that feeds the Earth's biosphere, yet at levels much lower than what thermodynamics would allow for. I propose here that photosynthesis is nevertheless thermodynamically…
Understanding electron transfer in organic molecules is of great interest in quantum materials for light harvesting, energy conversion, and integration of molecules into solar cells. This, however, poses the challenge of designing specific…
We experimentally demonstrate control of the absorption and emission properties of individual emitters by photonic antennas in suspension. The method results in a new class of water-soluble chromophores with unprecedented photophysical…
We predict the enhanced light harvesting of a protein-pigment complex when assembled to a quantum dot (QD) antenna. Our prototypical nanoassembly setup is composed of a Fenna-Mattews-Olson system hosting 8 Bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) a dyes,…
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…
Plants have developed intricate mechanisms to adapt to changing light conditions. Besides photo- and helio- tropism -- the differential growth towards light and the diurnal motion with respect to sunlight -- chloroplast motion acts as a…
The photoelectric effect induced by blackbody radiation could be a mechanism to harvest ambient thermal energy at a uniform temperature. Here, I describe (without going too much into mathematical details) the theoretical model I developed…
Photosynthesis is a plausible pathway for the sustenance of a substantial biosphere on an exoplanet. In fact, it is also anticipated to create distinctive biosignatures detectable by next-generation telescopes. In this work, we explore the…
Photosystem I is a protein-pigment complex that performs photosynthesis in plants, green algae, and cyanobacteria. It contains an aggregate of chlorophylls that absorbs light and delivers the resulting electronic excitation to the special…
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.…
Indoor light is known to be a new energy source to power uW low consumption wireless sensor networks (WSNs). For wireless electronic devices that consume tens of mW, it is still challenging to harvest this amount of power in a low light…
Low-gap conjugated polymers have enabled an impressive increase in the efficiencies of organic solar cells, primarily due to their red absorption which allows harvesting of that part of the solar spectrum. Here, we report that the true…
Self-propelled colloidal objects, such as motile bacteria or synthetic microswimmers, have microscopically irreversible individual dynamics - a feature they share with all living systems. The incoherent behaviour of individual swimmers can…
Photosystems II and I (PSII and PSI) are the reaction centre complexes that drive the light reactions of photosynthesis. PSII performs light-driven water oxidation (quantum efficiencies and catalysis rates of up to 80% and 1000…