Environment-Assisted Quantum Walks in Photosynthetic Energy Transfer

Details Environment-Assisted Quantum Walks in Photosynthetic Energy Transfer Environment-Assisted Quantum Walks in Photosynthetic Energy Transfer

2008-05-18

arxiv.org/abs/0805.2741v2

Journal of Chemical Physics 129, 174106 (2008)

Physics

Quantum Physics

9 pages, 3 figures, improved presentation, updated references, to appear in Journal of Chemical Physics

Scientific paper

10.1063/1.3002335

Energy transfer within photosynthetic systems can display quantum effects such as delocalized excitonic transport. Recently, direct evidence of long-lived coherence has been experimentally demonstrated for the dynamics of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) protein complex [Engel et al., Nature 446, 782 (2007)]. However, the relevance of quantum dynamical processes to the exciton transfer efficiency is to a large extent unknown. Here, we develop a theoretical framework for studying the role of quantum interference effects in energy transfer dynamics of molecular arrays interacting with a thermal bath within the Lindblad formalism. To this end, we generalize continuous-time quantum walks to non-unitary and temperature-dependent dynamics in Liouville space derived from a microscopic Hamiltonian. Different physical effects of coherence and decoherence processes are explored via a universal measure for the energy transfer efficiency and its susceptibility. In particular, we demonstrate that for the FMO complex an effective interplay between free Hamiltonian and thermal fluctuations in the environment leads to a substantial increase in energy transfer efficiency from about 70% to 99%.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Environment-Assisted Quantum Walks in Photosynthetic Energy Transfer does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Environment-Assisted Quantum Walks in Photosynthetic Energy Transfer, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Environment-Assisted Quantum Walks in Photosynthetic Energy Transfer will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-66095