Efficient and coherent excitation transfer across disordered molecular networks

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that disordered molecular networks can facilitate highly efficient, coherent excitation transfer that remains robust against environmental noise, potentially explaining energy transfer in photosynthesis.

Contribution

It reveals that finite disordered molecular networks can achieve efficient, coherent excitation transfer with robustness to dephasing, linking to biological energy transfer mechanisms.

Findings

Efficient excitation transfer occurs in disordered networks.

Transfer is robust against ambient dephasing.

Strong multi-site entanglement is associated with transfer.

Abstract

We show that finite-size, disordered molecular networks can mediate highly efficient, coherent excitation transfer which is robust against ambient dephasing and associated with strong multi-site entanglement. Such optimal, random molecular conformations may explain efficient energy transfer in the photosynthetic FMO complex.