Optical cavity-mediated exciton dynamics in photosynthetic light harvesting 2 complexes

Wu, F., Finkelstein-Shapiro, D., Wang, M., Rosenkampff, I., Yartsev, A., Pascher, T., Nguyen- Phan, T. C., Cogdell, R. , Börjesson, K. and Pullerits, T. (2022) Optical cavity-mediated exciton dynamics in photosynthetic light harvesting 2 complexes. Nature Communications, 13, 6864. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34613-x) (PMID:36369202) (PMCID:PMC9652305)

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Abstract

Strong light-matter interaction leads to the formation of hybrid polariton states and alters the photophysical dynamics of organic materials and biological systems without modifying their chemical structure. Here, we experimentally investigated a well-known photosynthetic protein, light harvesting 2 complexes (LH2) from purple bacteria under strong coupling with the light mode of a Fabry-Perot optical microcavity. Using femtosecond pump probe spectroscopy, we analyzed the polariton dynamics of the strongly coupled system and observed a significant prolongation of the excited state lifetime compared with the bare exciton, which can be explained in terms of the exciton reservoir model. Our findings indicate the potential of tuning the dynamic of the whole photosynthetic unit, which contains several light harvesting complexes and reaction centers, with the help of strong exciton-photon coupling, and opening the discussion about possible design strategies of artificial photosynthetic devices.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:Acknowledgements: F.W. and T.Pu. gratefully acknowledge Swedish Research Council (2021-05207), Swedish Energy Agency (44651-1 and 50709-1), Carl Trygger Foundation and NanoLund for funding this work. D.F.S. acknowledges the funding from PAPIIT No. IA202821. M.W. and K.B. thank the funding from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW 2017.0192). A.Y. thanks the financial support from the Crafoord Foundation and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. T.C.N.-P. and R.J.C. thank the BBSRC for financial support.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Cogdell, Professor Richard
Authors: Wu, F., Finkelstein-Shapiro, D., Wang, M., Rosenkampff, I., Yartsev, A., Pascher, T., Nguyen- Phan, T. C., Cogdell, R., Börjesson, K., and Pullerits, T.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Molecular Biosciences
Journal Name:Nature Communications
Publisher:Nature Research
ISSN:2041-1723
ISSN (Online):2041-1723
Published Online:11 November 2022
Copyright Holders:Copyright © The Author(s) 2022
First Published:First published in Nature Communications 13(1):6864
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons license

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