Light-harvesting with guide-slide superabsorbing condensed-matter nanostructures

TL;DR

This paper introduces design principles for nanostructures that achieve superlinear energy capture efficiency by controlling dipole orientations, inspired by natural photosynthesis, with robustness to disorder and vibrational effects.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach to enhance light-harvesting efficiency using guide-slide states in condensed-matter nanostructures, demonstrating robustness and potential for experimental realization.

Findings

Superlinear scaling of energy capture with system size.

Vibrational relaxation enhances superabsorption.

Robustness to 5% disorder across parameters.

Abstract

We establish design principles for light-harvesting antennae whose energy capture scales superlinearly with system size. Controlling the absorber dipole orientations produces sets of `guide-slide' states which promote steady-state superabsorbing characteristics in noisy condensed-matter nanostructures. Inspired by natural photosynthetic complexes, we discuss the example of ring-like dipole arrangements and show that, in our setup, vibrational relaxation enhances rather than impedes performance. Remarkably, the superabsorption effect proves robust to O(5%) disorder simultaneously for all relevant system parameters, showing promise for experimental exploration across a broad range of platforms.