Spectroscopic experiments on photosynthetic complexes have identified long-lived coherences, suggesting that coherent effects can be relevant in disordered and noisy light-harvesting systems. However, there is limited experimental evidence that light-harvesting processes can be more efficient due to a coherent effect, largely due to the difficulty of turning coherences on and off to create an experimental control. Here, we show that coherence can be used to enhance light harvesting, starting from a model system with controllable initial states. Specifically, we consider a three-site system, comprising two identical coupled donors, one of which is coupled to an acceptor. Coupling within the donor dimer results in two delocalised eigenstates that can be addressed using different light modes, allowing a coherent light source to enhance exciton populations on either donor by controlling only the phase between two exciting modes. Coherently controlling the excitation in this way can significantly enhance the light-harvesting efficiency relative to incoherent excitation. Our proposal would allow for the first unambiguous demonstration of light harvesting enhanced by intermolecular coherence, as well as demonstrate the potential for coherent control of excitonic energy transfer.
In recent years, several kinds of coherence have been shown to affect the performance of lightharvesting systems, in some cases significantly improving their efficiency. Here, we classify the possible mechanisms of coherent efficiency enhancements, based on the types of coherence that can characterise a light-harvesting system and the types of processes these coherences can affect. We show that enhancements are possible only when coherences and dissipative effects are best described in different bases of states. Our classification allows us to predict a previously unreported coherent enhancement mechanism, where coherence between delocalised eigenstates can be used to localise excitons away from dissipation, thus reducing recombination and increasing efficiency.
Coherence-enhanced light harvesting has not been directly observed experimentally, despite theoretical evidence that coherence can significantly enhance light-harvesting performance. The main experimental obstacle has been the difficulty in isolating the effect of coherence in the presence of confounding variables. Recent proposals for externally controlling coherence by manipulating the light’s degree of polarization showed that coherent efficiency enhancements would be possible, but they were restricted to light-harvesting systems weakly coupled to their environment. Here, we show that increases in system–bath coupling strength can amplify coherent efficiency enhancements, rather than suppress them. This result dramatically broadens the range of systems that could be used to conclusively demonstrate coherence-enhanced light harvesting or to engineer coherent effects into artificial light-harvesting devices.
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