Incoherent energy transfer within light-harvesting complexes

Excitonic energy transfer in light-harvesting complexes in purple bacteria.

Two distinct approaches, the Frenkel-Dirac time-dependent variation and the Haken-Strobl model, are adopted to study energy transfer dynamics in single-ring and double-ring light-harvesting (LH) systems in purple bacteria. It is found that the inclusion of long-range dipolar interactions in the two methods results in significant increase in intra- or inter-ring exciton transfer efficiency. The ...

Efficient estimation of energy transfer efficiency in light-harvesting complexes.

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 realistic with surrounding photonic and phononic environments. One major problem in studying light-harvesting complexes has been the lack of an efficient method for sim...

Coherent Energy Transfer under Incoherent Light Conditions.

Recent two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2DES) experiments have reported evidence of coherent dynamics of electronic excitations in several light-harvesting antennae. However, 2DES uses ultrafast coherent laser pulses as an excitation source; therefore, there is a current debate on whether coherent excitation dynamics is present under natural sunlight - incoherent - illumination conditio...

Optimal Energy Transfer in Light-Harvesting Systems.

Photosynthesis is one of the most essential biological processes in which specialized pigment-protein complexes absorb solar photons, and with a remarkably high efficiency, guide the photo-induced excitation energy toward the reaction center to subsequently trigger its conversion to chemical energy. In this work, we review the principles of optimal energy transfer in various natural and artific...

Energy Transfer and Photosynthetic Light Harvesting