Quantum effects in energy and charge transfer in an artificial photosynthetic complex [ J. Chem. Phys. 134, 244103 (2011)] (original) (raw)
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Quantum effects in energy and charge transfer in an artificial photosynthetic complex
The Journal of Chemical Physics, 2011
We investigate the quantum dynamics of energy and charge transfer in a wheel-shaped artificial photosynthetic antenna-reaction center complex. This complex consists of six light-harvesting chromophores and an electron-acceptor fullerene. To describe quantum effects on a femtosecond time scale, we derive the set of exact non-Markovian equations for the Heisenberg operators of this photosynthetic complex in contact with a Gaussian heat bath. With these equations we can analyze the regime of strong system-bath interactions, where reorganization energies are of the order of the intersite exciton couplings. We show that the energy of the initially-excited antenna chromophores is efficiently funneled to the porphyrin-fullerene reaction center, where a charge-separated state is set up in a few picoseconds, with a quantum yield of the order of 95%. In the single-exciton regime, with one antenna chromophore being initially excited, we observe quantum beatings of energy between two resonant antenna chromophores with a decoherence time of ∼ 100 fs. We also analyze the double-exciton regime, when two porphyrin molecules involved in the reaction center are initially excited. In this regime we obtain pronounced quantum oscillations of the charge on the fullerene molecule with a decoherence time of about 20 fs (at liquid nitrogen temperatures). These results show a way to directly detect quantum effects in artificial photosynthetic systems.
Realistic Quantum Control of Energy Transfer in Photosynthetic Processes
Energies, 2016
The occurrence of coherence phenomenon as a result of the interference of the probability amplitude terms is among the principle features of quantum mechanics concepts. Current experiments display the presence of quantum techniques whose coherence is supplied over large interval times. Specifically, photosynthetic mechanisms in light-harvesting complexes furnish oscillatory behaviors owing to quantum coherence. In this manuscript, we study the coherent quantum energy transfer for a single-excitation and nonlocal correlation in a dimer system (donor+acceptor) displayed by two-level systems (TLSs), interacting with a cavity field with a time-dependent coupling effect considering the realistic situation of coupling between each TLS and the cavity field. We analyze and explore the specific conditions which are viable with real experimental realization for the ultimate transfer of quantum energy and nonlocal quantum correlation. We show that the enhancement of the probability for a single-excitation energy transfer greatly benefits from the energy detuning, photon-number transition, classicality of the field, and the time-dependent coupling effect. We also find that the entanglement between the donor and acceptor is very sensitive to the physical parameters and it can be generated during the coherent energy transfer.
Photosynthetic Energy Transfer at the Quantum/Classical Border
Trends in plant science, 2018
Quantum mechanics diverges from the classical description of our world when very small scales or very fast processes are involved. Unlike classical mechanics, quantum effects cannot be easily related to our everyday experience and are often counterintuitive to us. Nevertheless, the dimensions and time scales of the photosynthetic energy transfer processes puts them close to the quantum/classical border, bringing them into the range of measurable quantum effects. Here we review recent advances in the field and suggest that photosynthetic processes can take advantage of the sensitivity of quantum effects to the environmental 'noise' as means of tuning exciton energy transfer efficiency. If true, this design principle could be a base for 'nontrivial' coherent wave property nano-devices.
Photosynthetic reaction center as a quantum heat engine
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013
Two seemingly unrelated effects attributed to quantum coherence have been reported recently in natural and artificial light-harvesting systems. First, an enhanced solar cell efficiency was predicted and second, population oscillations were measured in photosynthetic antennae excited by sequences of coherent ultrashort laser pulses. Because both systems operate as quantum heat engines (QHEs) that convert the solar photon energy to useful work (electric currents or chemical energy, respectively), the question arises whether coherence could also enhance the photosynthetic yield. Here, we show that both effects arise from the same population–coherence coupling term which is induced by noise, does not require coherent light, and will therefore work for incoherent excitation under natural conditions of solar excitation. Charge separation in light-harvesting complexes occurs in a pair of tightly coupled chlorophylls (the special pair) at the heart of photosynthetic reaction centers of both...
Evidence for wavelike energy transfer through quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems
Nature, 2007
Photosynthetic complexes are exquisitely tuned to capture solar light efficiently, and then transmit the excitation energy to reaction centres, where long term energy storage is initiated. The energy transfer mechanism is often described by semiclassical models that invoke 'hopping' of excited-state populations along discrete energy levels 1,2 . Two-dimensional Fourier transform electronic spectroscopy 3-5 has mapped 6 these energy levels and their coupling in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) bacteriochlorophyll complex, which is found in green sulphur bacteria and acts as an energy 'wire' connecting a large peripheral light-harvesting antenna, the chlorosome, to the reaction centre 7-9 . The spectroscopic data clearly document the dependence of the dominant energy transport pathways on the spatial properties of the excited-state wavefunctions of the whole bacteriochlorophyll complex 6,10 . But the intricate dynamics of quantum coherence, which has no classical analogue, was largely neglected in the analyses-even though electronic energy transfer involving oscillatory populations of donors and acceptors was first discussed more than 70 years ago 11 , and electronic quantum beats arising from quantum coherence in photosynthetic complexes have been predicted 12,13 and indirectly observed 14 . Here we extend previous twodimensional electronic spectroscopy investigations of the FMO bacteriochlorophyll complex, and obtain direct evidence for remarkably long-lived electronic quantum coherence playing an important part in energy transfer processes within this system. The quantum coherence manifests itself in characteristic, directly observable quantum beating signals among the excitons within the Chlorobium tepidum FMO complex at 77 K. This wavelike characteristic of the energy transfer within the photosynthetic complex can explain its extreme efficiency, in that it allows the complexes to sample vast areas of phase space to find the most efficient path.
Electronic coherence effects in photosynthetic light harvesting
Procedia Chemistry, 2011
Photosynthetic light harvesting is a paradigmatic example for quantum effects in biology. In this work, we review studies on quantum coherence effects in the LH2 antenna complex from purple bacteria to demonstrate how quantum mechanical rules play important roles in the speedup of excitation energy transfer, the stabilization of electronic excitations, and the robustness of light harvesting in photosynthesis. Subsequently, we present our recent theoretical studies on exciton dynamical localization and excitonic coherence generation in photosynthetic systems. We apply a variational-polaron approach to investigate decoherence of exciton states induced by dynamical fluctuations due to system-environment interactions. The results indicate that the dynamical localization of photoexcitations in photosynthetic complexes is significant and imperative for a complete understanding of coherence and excitation dynamics in photosynthesis. Moreover, we use a simple model to investigate quantum coherence effects in intercomplex excitation energy transfer in natural photosynthesis, with a focus on the likelihoods of generating excitonic coherences during the process. Our model simulations reveal that excitonic coherence between acceptor exciton states and transient nonlocal quantum correlation between distant pairs of chromophores can be generated through intercomplex energy transfer. Finally, we discuss the implications of these theoretical works and important open questions that remain to be answered.
Quantum correlation dynamics in photosynthetic processes assisted by molecular vibrations
During the long course of evolution, nature has learnt how to exploit quantum effects. In fact, recent experiments reveal the existence of quantum processes whose coherence extends over unexpectedly long time and space ranges. In particular, photosynthetic processes in light-harvesting complexes display a typical oscillatory dynamics ascribed to quantum coherence. Here, we consider the simple model where a dimer made of two chromophores is strongly coupled with a quasi-resonant vibrational mode. We observe the occurrence of wide oscillations of genuine quantum correlations, between electronic excitations and the environment, represented by vibrational bosonic modes. Such a quantum dynamics has been unveiled through the calculation of the negativity of entanglement and the discord, indicators widely used in quantum information for quantifying the resources needed to realize quantum technologies. We also discuss the possibility of approximating additional weakly-coupled off-resonant vibrational modes, simulating the disturbances induced by the rest of the environment, by a single vibrational mode. Within this approximation, one can show that the off-resonant bath behaves like a classical source of noise.
Full quantum dynamics of the electronic coupling between photosynthetic pigments
From studying the time evolution of the single electron density matrix within a density functional tight-binding formalism we study in a fully atomistic picture the electronic excitation transfer between two photosynthetic pigments in real time. This time-dependent quantum dynamics is based on fully atomistic structural models of the photosynthetic pigment. We analyze the dependence of the electronic excitation transfer with distance and orientation between photosynthetic pigments. We compare the results obtained from full quantum dynamics with analytical ones, based on a two level system model were the interaction between the pigments is dipolar. We observed that even when the distance of the photosynthetic pigment is about 30Å the deviation of the dipolarity is of about 15 percent.
The Journal of Chemical Physics, 2012
Two-dimensional photon-echo experiments indicate that excitation energy transfer between chromophores near the reaction center of the photosynthetic purple bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides occurs coherently with decoherence times of hundreds of femtoseconds, comparable to the energy transfer time scale in these systems. The original explanation of this observation suggested that correlated fluctuations in chromophore excitation energies, driven by large scale protein motions could result in long lived coherent energy transfer dynamics. However, no significant site energy correlation has been found in recent molecular dynamics simulations of several model light harvesting systems. Instead, there is evidence of correlated fluctuations in site energy-electronic coupling and electronic coupling-electronic coupling. The roles of these different types of correlations in excitation energy transfer dynamics are not yet thoroughly understood, though the effects of site energy correlations have been well studied. In this paper, we introduce several general models that can realistically describe the effects of various types of correlated fluctuations in chromophore properties and systematically study the behavior of these models using general methods for treating dissipative quantum dynamics in complex multi-chromophore systems. The effects of correlation between site energy and inter-site electronic couplings are explored in a two state model of excitation energy transfer between the accessory bacteriochlorophyll and bacteriopheophytin in a reaction center system and we find that these types of correlated fluctuations can enhance or suppress coherence and transfer rate simultaneously. In contrast, models for correlated fluctuations in chromophore excitation energies show enhanced coherent dynamics but necessarily show decrease in excitation energy transfer rate accompanying such coherence enhancement. Finally, for a three state model of the Fenna-Matthews-Olsen light harvesting complex, we explore the influence of including correlations in inter-chromophore couplings between different chromophore dimers that share a common chromophore. We find that the relative sign of the different correlations can have profound influence on decoherence time and energy transfer rate and can provide sensitive control of relaxation in these complex quantum dynamical open systems.