Photon-blockade induced photon anti-bunching in photosynthetic Antennas with cyclic structures

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how strong dipole-dipole interactions in cyclic photosynthetic antennas induce photon blockade, leading to photon anti-bunching, which could protect the system from energy damage and is robust against structural disorder.

Contribution

It reveals the mechanism of photon blockade in cyclic light-harvesting antennas and its potential biological significance, a novel insight into quantum effects in photosynthesis.

Findings

Photon blockade causes photon anti-bunching in photosynthetic antennas.

Robustness of photon blockade against structural disorder.

Potential role in protecting against excess energy damage.

Abstract

One of the important nonclassical effects in quantum optics is the anti-bunching, which has been observed in a large class of physical systems - including light-harvesting antennas with cyclic structures. The units of the ring couple with adjacent ones through dipole-dipole interactions. We show how this strong dipole-dipole interaction leads to photon-blockade resulting in the suppression of double excitation pathway and anti-bunching in photosynthesis systems. The robustness of the photon blockade is demonstrated against the disorder in the ring structures. We hypothesis that the effect may be utilized by light-harvesting systems to avoid damages from excess energy.