Photosynthetic Energy Transfer at the Quantum/Classical Border

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Quantum mechanics diverges from the classical description of our world when very small scales or very fast processes are involved. Unlike classical mechanics, quantum effects cannot be easily related to our everyday experience and are often counterintuitive to us. Nevertheless, the dimensions and time scales of the photosynthetic energy transfer processes puts them close to the quantum/classical border, bringing them into the range of measurable quantum effects. Here we review recent advances in the field and suggest that photosynthetic processes can take advantage of the sensitivity of quantum effects to the environmental ‘noise’ as means of tuning exciton energy transfer efficiency. If true, this design principle could be a base for ‘nontrivial’ coherent wave property nano-devices.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)497-506
Number of pages10
JournalTrends in Plant Science
Volume23
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2018

Keywords

  • Photosynthesis
  • exciton energy transfer
  • light harvesting
  • quantum classical border
  • quantum coherence

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Plant Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Photosynthetic Energy Transfer at the Quantum/Classical Border'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this