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Bulletin of the American Physical Society

Quantum coherence, decoherence and entanglement in light harvesting complexes

Martin Bodo Plenio, Filippo Caruso, Alex W. Chin, Animesh Datta, Susana F. Huelga

Published Mar 16, 2009• 0 citations
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Measuring quantum effects in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes with multipartite entanglement

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This thesis is a compilation of studies on delocalization measures, entanglement, and the role of quantum coherence in electronic energy transfer (EET) in light-harvesting complexes. The first two chapters after the introduction provide foundational knowledge of quantum information and light-harvesting, respectively. Chapter 2 introduces concepts from quantum information such as purity, bipartite entanglement and criteria for its measurement. The peripheral light-harvesting complex LH2, isolated from the anoxygenic purple bacterium Rhodopseudomonas acidophila, is employed as model system of interest. This light-harvesting complex, along with a description of the process of light-harvesting, the presence of quantum coherence, and the different models used to simulate EET, are described in chapter 3. In combination these two chapters lay the foundation for chapter 4, a critical assessment of the current measures of delocalization employed in EET studies, their relationship, and overall effectiveness. The conclusion is that entanglement based measures are most effective at measuring quantum effects, and that they can be related to more conventional delocalization measures such as the inverse participation ratio (IPR) by taking into account the entropy of the system under study. All the measures within this chapter are known as bipartite measures, and only measure the strength of correlation between two sites. The fifth chapter presents the core of this thesis. Following a brief introduction to the concept of multipartite entanglement, the development of multipartite delocalization measures that give high-resolution information on quantum coherence in light-harvesting complexes is detailed. In contrast to other measures, these analytical measures can detect many body correlations in large systems undergoing decoherence. We determine that, much like the bipartite entanglement based measures of chapter 4, these measures are also a function of system entropy, and have a similar hierarchial structure as that of multipartite entanglement measures. The final chapter applies these measures to our model LH2 complex, and draws conclusions on the role of bipartite delocalization and multipartite delocalization in EET.

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It has been suggested that excitation transport in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes features speedups analogous to those found in quantum algorithms. Here we compare the dynamics in these light-harvesting systems to the dynamics of quantum walks, in order to elucidate the limits of such quantum speedups. For the Fenna–Matthews–Olson complex of green sulfur bacteria, we show that while there is indeed speedup at short times, this is short lived (70 fs) despite longer-lived (ps) quantum coherence. Remarkably, this timescale is independent of the details of the decoherence model. More generally, we show that the distinguishing features of light-harvesting complexes not only limit the extent of quantum speedup but also reduce the rates of diffusive transport. These results suggest that quantum coherent effects in biological systems are optimized for efficiency or robustness rather than the more elusive goal of quantum speedup.

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Noise-Assisted Discord-Like Correlations in Light-Harvesting Photosynthetic Complexes

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Transport phenomena in photosynthetic systems have attracted a great deal of attention due to their potential role in devising novel photovoltaic materials. In particular, energy transport in light-harvesting complexes is considered quite efficient due to the balance between coherent quantum evolution and decoherence, a phenomenon coined Environment-Assisted Quantum Transport (ENAQT). Although this effect has been extensively studied, its behavior is typically described in terms of the decoherence’s strength, namely weak, moderate or strong. Here, we study the ENAQT in terms of quantum correlations that go beyond entanglement. Using a subsystem of the Fenna–Matthews–Olson complex, we find that discord-like correlations maximize when the subsystem’s transport efficiency increases, while the entanglement between sites vanishes. Our results suggest that quantum discord is a manifestation of the ENAQT and highlight the importance of beyond-entanglement correlations in photosynthetic energy transport processes.

arXiv:2104.07717•Quantum Reports•Apr 15, 2021•2 citations
This thesis is a compilation of studies on delocalization measures, entanglement, and the role of quantum coherence in electronic energy transfer (EET) in light-harvesting complexes. The first two chapters after the introduction provide foundational knowledge of quantum information and light-harvesting, respectively. Chapter 2 introduces concepts from quantum information such as purity, bipartite entanglement and criteria for its measurement. The peripheral light-harvesting complex LH2, isolated from the anoxygenic purple bacterium Rhodopseudomonas acidophila, is employed as model system of interest. This light-harvesting complex, along with a description of the process of light-harvesting, the presence of quantum coherence, and the different models used to simulate EET, are described in chapter 3. In combination these two chapters lay the foundation for chapter 4, a critical assessment of the current measures of delocalization employed in EET studies, their relationship, and overall effectiveness. The conclusion is that entanglement based measures are most effective at measuring quantum effects, and that they can be related to more conventional delocalization measures such as the inverse participation ratio (IPR) by taking into account the entropy of the system under study. All the measures within this chapter are known as bipartite measures, and only measure the strength of correlation between two sites. The fifth chapter presents the core of this thesis. Following a brief introduction to the concept of multipartite entanglement, the development of multipartite delocalization measures that give high-resolution information on quantum coherence in light-harvesting complexes is detailed. In contrast to other measures, these analytical measures can detect many body correlations in large systems undergoing decoherence. We determine that, much like the bipartite entanglement based measures of chapter 4, these measures are also a function of system entropy, and have a similar hierarchial structure as that of multipartite entanglement measures. The final chapter applies these measures to our model LH2 complex, and draws conclusions on the role of bipartite delocalization and multipartite delocalization in EET.
It has been suggested that excitation transport in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes features speedups analogous to those found in quantum algorithms. Here we compare the dynamics in these light-harvesting systems to the dynamics of quantum walks, in order to elucidate the limits of such quantum speedups. For the Fenna–Matthews–Olson complex of green sulfur bacteria, we show that while there is indeed speedup at short times, this is short lived (70 fs) despite longer-lived (ps) quantum coherence. Remarkably, this timescale is independent of the details of the decoherence model. More generally, we show that the distinguishing features of light-harvesting complexes not only limit the extent of quantum speedup but also reduce the rates of diffusive transport. These results suggest that quantum coherent effects in biological systems are optimized for efficiency or robustness rather than the more elusive goal of quantum speedup.
Transport phenomena in photosynthetic systems have attracted a great deal of attention due to their potential role in devising novel photovoltaic materials. In particular, energy transport in light-harvesting complexes is considered quite efficient due to the balance between coherent quantum evolution and decoherence, a phenomenon coined Environment-Assisted Quantum Transport (ENAQT). Although this effect has been extensively studied, its behavior is typically described in terms of the decoherence’s strength, namely weak, moderate or strong. Here, we study the ENAQT in terms of quantum correlations that go beyond entanglement. Using a subsystem of the Fenna–Matthews–Olson complex, we find that discord-like correlations maximize when the subsystem’s transport efficiency increases, while the entanglement between sites vanishes. Our results suggest that quantum discord is a manifestation of the ENAQT and highlight the importance of beyond-entanglement correlations in photosynthetic energy transport processes.