Energy Transfer Dynamics of Photosynthetic Light Harvesting Complexes Interacting with Non-Classical Light
Natural photosynthetic light harvesting complexes are known to possess very high efficiencies under weak light conditions for the conversion of absorbed photons into electron-hole pairs that drive a series of biochemical reactions. Studying these complexes using non-classical light has the potential to yield information that is inaccessible using classical light. We developed quantum trajectory and density matrix methods to describe the absorption and emission of single Fock state photons by light harvesting systems, including the interaction of electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom. In addition to the numerical methodologies, we have also derived some analytical results regarding the excitonic system dynamics.
Liwen grew up in Taiwan. He received his B.S. in chemistry from University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a chemistry PhD candidate in the Whaley group working to understand the energy and charge transfer dynamics of photosynthetic light harvesting complexes.