Effect of Strong Electron Correlation on the Efficiency of Photosynthetic Light Harvesting

TL;DR

This paper introduces a multi-electron model to explicitly analyze how strong electron correlation within chromophores influences the efficiency of energy transfer in photosynthesis, offering new insights for designing energy-efficient materials.

Contribution

It generalizes existing models to explicitly include electron correlation effects, enhancing understanding of energy transfer mechanisms in photosynthetic systems.

Findings

Electron correlation enhances energy transfer efficiency.

The model reveals interplay between electron correlation and entanglement.

Insights aid in designing new energy-efficient materials.

Abstract

Research into the efficiency of photosynthetic light harvesting has focused on two factors: (1) entanglement of chromophores, and (2) environmental noise. While chromophores are conjugated $\pi$-bonding molecules with strongly correlated electrons, previous models have treated this correlation implicitly without a mathematical variable to gauge correlation-enhanced efficiency. Here we generalize the single-electron/exciton models to a multi-electron/exciton model that explicitly shows the effects of enhanced electron correlation within chromophores on the efficiency of energy transfer. The model provides more detailed insight into the interplay of electron correlation within chromophores and electron entanglement between chromophores. Exploiting this interplay is assisting in the design of new energy-efficient materials, which are just beginning to emerge.