Multiscale cyclic dynamics in light harvesting complex in presence of vibrations and noise

Journal Article · 17 January 2019 · European Physical Journal. Special Topics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2018-800059-9 · OSTI ID:1688734

Gurvitz, Shmuel ^[1]; Berman, Gennady P. ^[2]; Sayre, Richard T. ^[3]

---

1. Weizmann Inst. of Science, Rehovot (Israel); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
3. New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Starting from the many-body Schrödinger equation, in this work we derive a new type of Lindblad master equations describing a cyclic exciton/electron dynamics in the light harvesting complex and the reaction center. These equations resemble the master equations for the electric current in mesoscopic systems, and they go beyond the single-exciton description by accounting for the multi-exciton states accumulated in the antenna, as well as the charge-separation, fluorescence and photo-absorption. Although these effects take place on very different timescales, their inclusion is necessary for a consistent description of the exciton dynamics. Our approach reproduces both coherent and incoherent dynamics of exciton motion along the antenna in the presence of vibrational modes and noise. We applied our results to evaluate energy (exciton) and fluorescent currents as functions of sunlight intensity.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
• Grant/Contract Number: 89233218CNA000001
• OSTI ID: 1688734
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--17-24343
• Journal Information: European Physical Journal. Special Topics, Journal Name: European Physical Journal. Special Topics Journal Issue: 15-16 Vol. 227; ISSN 1951-6355
• Publisher: SpringerCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English