Electromagnetically-Induced Transparency Bridges Disconnected Light-Harvesting Networks

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that introducing a resonant three-site bridge can significantly enhance energy transfer efficiency in artificial light-harvesting systems by utilizing dark states, inspired by natural photosynthesis.

Contribution

It proposes a novel three-site bridge to connect disconnected light-harvesting networks and shows how resonance enhances energy transfer efficiency.

Findings

Resonant 3-site bridge improves energy transfer in PSI.

Dark state facilitation enhances efficiency.

Potential design principles for artificial systems.

Abstract

The energy-transfer efficiency of the natural photosynthesis system seems to be perfectly optimized during the evolution for millions of years. However, how to enhance the efficiency in the artificial light-harvesting systems is still unclear. In this paper, we investigate the energy-transfer process in the photosystem I (PSI). When there is no effective coupling between the outer antenna (OA) and the reaction center (RC), the two light-harvesting networks are disconnected and thus the energy transfer is inefficient. In order to repair these disconnected networks, we introduce a bridge with three sites between them. We find that by modulating the level structure of the 3-site bridge to be resonant, the energy transfer via the dark state will be enhanced and even outperform the original PSI. Our discoveries may shed light on the designing mechanism of artificial light-harvesting systems.