Wientjes, E., Renger, J., Curto, A. G., Cogdell, R. and van Hulst, N. F. (2014) Strong antenna-enhanced fluorescence of a single light-harvesting complex shows photon antibunching. Nature Communications, 5, 4236. (doi: 10.1038/ncomms5236) (PMID:24953833) (PMCID:PMC4083440)
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Abstract
The nature of the highly efficient energy transfer in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes is a subject of intense research. Unfortunately, the low fluorescence efficiency and limited photostability hampers the study of individual light-harvesting complexes at ambient conditions. Here we demonstrate an over 500-fold fluorescence enhancement of light-harvesting complex 2 (LH2) at the single-molecule level by coupling to a gold nanoantenna. The resonant antenna produces an excitation enhancement of circa 100 times and a fluorescence lifetime shortening to ~\n20 ps. The radiative rate enhancement results in a 5.5-fold-improved fluorescence quantum efficiency. Exploiting the unique brightness, we have recorded the first photon antibunching of a single light-harvesting complex under ambient conditions, showing that the 27 bacteriochlorophylls coordinated by LH2 act as a non-classical single-photon emitter. The presented bright antenna-enhanced LH2 emission is a highly promising system to study energy transfer and the role of quantum coherence at the level of single complexes.
Item Type: | Articles |
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Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Cogdell, Professor Richard |
Authors: | Wientjes, E., Renger, J., Curto, A. G., Cogdell, R., and van Hulst, N. F. |
College/School: | College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Molecular Biosciences |
Journal Name: | Nature Communications |
Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group |
ISSN: | 2041-1723 |
ISSN (Online): | 2041-1723 |
Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited |
First Published: | First published in Nature Communications 5:4236 |
Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons License |
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