Abstract
In this paper, we present a theoretical description to the quantum coherence and decoherence phenomena of energy transfer in photosynthesis observed in a recent experiment. As a successive two-color laser pulses with selected frequencies cast on a sample of the photosynthetic purple bacterium Rb. sphaeroides two resonant excitations of electrons in chromophores can be generated. However, this effective two-level subsystem will interact with its protein environment and decoherence is inevitable. We describe this subsystem coupled with its environment as a dynamical spin-boson model. The non-Markovian decoherence dynamics is described using a quasiadiabatic propagator path integral (QUAPI) approach. With the photon-induced effective time-dependent level splitting energy and level flip coupling coefficient between the two excited states and the environment-induced non-Markovian decoherence dynamics, our theoretical result is in good agreement with the experimental data.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 011906 |
Journal | Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics |
Volume | 81 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2010 Jan 13 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
- Statistics and Probability
- Condensed Matter Physics