Light harvesting, energy transfer and electron cycling of a native photosynthetic membrane adsorbed onto a gold surface

Energy Transfer and Photosynthetic Light Harvesting

Efficient energy transfer from the carotenoid S(2) state in a photosynthetic light-harvesting complex.

Previously, the spatial arrangement of the carotenoid and bacteriochlorophyll molecules in the peripheral light-harvesting (LH2) complex from Rhodopseudomonas acidophila strain 10050 has been determined at high resolution. Here, we have time resolved the energy transfer steps that occur between the carotenoid's initial excited state and the lowest energy group of bacteriochlorophyll molecules i...

Dynamics of excitation energy transfer in the LH1 and LH2 light-harvesting complexes of photosynthetic bacteria.

Photosynthetic light harvesting is a unique life process that occurs with amazing efficiency. Since the discovery of the structure of the bacterial peripheral light-harvesting complex (LH2), this process has been studied using a variety of advanced laser spectroscopic methods. We are now in a position to discuss the physical origins of excitation energy transfer and trapping in the LH2 and LH1 ...

Computational methodologies and physical insights into electronic energy transfer in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes.

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 the underlying physics. Advantages and pitfalls of these methodologies are discussed, as are some physical insights into the photosynthetic dynamics. By combin...

Short-Range Coherence in the Energy Transfer of Photosynthetic Light-Harvesting Systems

We employ a simple model for the electronic excitations and the exciton-vibration coupling characterizing the B850 ring of the light-harvesting complex in photosynthetic bacteria to investigate the possibility of coherence in the energy transfer within the system. The structure of the equilibrium density matrix is studied using the path integral formulation of quantum statistical mechanics. The...