Timescales of Coherent Dynamics in the Light Harvesting Complex 2 (LH2) of Rhodobacter sphaeroides

Energy Transfer and Exciton Relaxation in B880-B800-RC Complex through Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy

The light-harvesting (LH) and reaction center (RC) core complex of purple bacterium Roseiflexus castenholzii, B880-B800-RC, are different from those of the typical photosynthetic unit, (B850-B800)x-B880-RC. To investigate the excitation flowing dynamics in this unique complex, two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy is employed. The obtained time constants for the exciton relaxation in B880, exciton relaxation in B800, B800 → B880 energy transfer (EET), and B880 → closed RC EET are 43 fs, 177 fs, 1.9 ps, and 205 ps, respectively. These time constants result in an overall EET efficiency similar to that of the typical photosynthetic unit. Analysis of the oscillatory signals reveals that while several vibronic coherences are involved in the exciton relaxation process, only one prominent vibronic coherence, with a frequency of 27 cm-1 and coupled to the B880 electronic transition, may contribute to the B800 → B880 EET process.

Signature of Quantum Coherence in the Exciton Energy Pathways of the LH2 Photosynthetic Complex

Unraveling the energy transfer pathways in photosynthetic complexes is an important step toward understanding their structure-function interplay. Here, we use an open quantum systems approach to investigate energy transfer within the LH2 photosynthetic apparatus and its dependence on environmental conditions. We find that energy transfer pathways strongly depend on the environment-induced dephasing time. A comparison between the computational results and experiments performed on similar systems demonstrates that quantum coherences are present in these systems under physiological conditions and have an important role in shaping the energy transfer pathways. Moreover, our calculations indicate that relatively simple spectroscopy experiments can be used to detect traces of quantum coherence. Finally, our results suggest that quantum coherence may play a role in photosynthesis, but not in enhancing the efficiency as was previously suggested.

A polarization scheme that resolves cross-peaks with transient absorption and eliminates diagonal peaks in 2D spectroscopy

Two-dimensional (2D) optical spectroscopy contains cross-peaks that are helpful features for determining molecular structure and monitoring energy transfer, but they can be difficult to resolve from the much more intense diagonal peaks. Transient absorption (TA) spectra contain transitions similar to cross-peaks in 2D spectroscopy, but in most cases they are obscured by the bleach and stimulated emission peaks. We report a polarization scheme, <0°,0°,+θ₂(t₂),-θ₂(t₂)>, that can be easily implemented in the pump-probe beam geometry, used most frequently in 2D and TA spectroscopy. This scheme removes the diagonal peaks in 2D spectroscopies and the intense bleach/stimulated emission peaks in TA spectroscopies, thereby resolving the cross-peak features. At zero pump-probe delay, θ₂ = 60° destructively interferes two Feynman paths, eliminating all signals generated by field interactions with four parallel transition dipoles, and the intense diagonal and bleach/stimulated emission peaks. At later delay times, θ₂(t₂) is adjusted to compensate for anisotropy caused by rotational diffusion. When implemented with TA spectroscopy or microscopy, the pump-probe spectrum is dominated by the cross-peak features. The local oscillator is also attenuated, which enhances the signal two times. This overlooked polarization scheme reduces spectral congestion by eliminating diagonal peaks in 2D spectra and enables TA spectroscopy to measure similar information given by cross-peaks in 2D spectroscopy.

Structure and Efficiency in Bacterial Photosynthetic Light Harvesting

Photosynthetic organisms use networks of chromophores to absorb and deliver solar energy to reaction centers. We present a detailed model of the light-harvesting complexes in purple bacteria, including explicit interaction with sunlight, radiative and nonradiative energy loss, and dephasing and thermalizing effects of coupling to a vibrational bath. We capture the effect of slow vibrations by introducing time-dependent disorder. Our model describes the experimentally observed high efficiency of light harvesting, despite the absence of long-range quantum coherence. The one-exciton part of the quantum state fluctuates continuously but remains highly mixed at all times. These results suggest a relatively minor role for structure in determining efficiency. We build hypothetical models with randomly arranged chromophores but still observe high efficiency when nearest-neighbor distances are comparable to those in nature. This helps explain the high transport efficiency in organisms with widely differing antenna structures and suggests new design criteria for artificial light-harvesting devices.

Simulating Fluorescence-Detected Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy of Multichromophoric Systems

We present a theory for modeling fluorescence-detected two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy of multichromophoric systems. The theory is tested by comparison of the predicted spectra of the light-harvesting complex LH2 with experimental data. A qualitative explanation of the strong cross-peaks as compared to conventional two-dimensional electronic spectra is given. The strong cross-peaks are attributed to the clean ground-state signal that is revealed when the annihilation of exciton pairs created on the same LH2 complex cancels oppositely signed signals from the doubly excited state. This annihilation process occurs much faster than the nonradiative relaxation. Furthermore, the line shape difference is attributed to slow dynamics, exciton delocalization within the bands, and intraband exciton-exciton annihilation. This is in line with existing theories presented for model systems. We further propose the use of time-resolved fluorescence-detected two-dimensional spectroscopy to study state-resolved exciton-exciton annihilation.

Coherent phenomena in photosynthetic light harvesting: part two-observations in biological systems

Considerable debate surrounds the question of whether or not quantum mechanics plays a significant, non-trivial role in photosynthetic light harvesting. Many have proposed that quantum superpositions and/or quantum transport phenomena may be responsible for the efficiency and robustness of energy transport present in biological systems. The critical experimental observations comprise the observation of coherent oscillations or "quantum beats" via femtosecond laser spectroscopy, which have been observed in many different light harvesting systems. Part Two of this review aims to provide an overview of experimental observations of energy transfer in the most studied light harvesting systems. Length scales, derived from crystallographic studies, are combined with energy and time scales of the beats observed via spectroscopy. A consensus is emerging that most long-lived (hundreds of femtoseconds) coherent phenomena are of vibrational or vibronic origin, where the latter may result in coherent excitation transport within a protein complex. In contrast, energy transport between proteins is likely to be incoherent in nature. The question of whether evolution has selected for these non-trivial quantum phenomena may be an unanswerable question, as dense packings of chromophores will lead to strong coupling and hence non-trivial quantum phenomena. As such, one cannot discern whether evolution has optimised light harvesting systems for high chromophore density or for the ensuing quantum effects as these are inextricably linked and cannot be switched off.

Vibronic Wavepackets and Energy Transfer in Cryptophyte Light-Harvesting Complexes

Determining the key features of high-efficiency photosynthetic energy transfer remains an ongoing task. Recently, there has been evidence for the role of vibronic coherence in linking donor and acceptor states to redistribute oscillator strength for enhanced energy transfer. To gain further insights into the interplay between vibronic wavepackets and energy-transfer dynamics, we systematically compare four structurally related phycobiliproteins from cryptophyte algae by broad-band pump-probe spectroscopy and extend a parametric model based on global analysis to include vibrational wavepacket characterization. The four phycobiliproteins isolated from cryptophyte algae are two "open" structures and two "closed" structures. The closed structures exhibit strong exciton coupling in the central dimer. The dominant energy-transfer pathway occurs on the subpicosecond timescale across the largest energy gap in each of the proteins, from central to peripheral chromophores. All proteins exhibit a strong 1585 cm^-1 coherent oscillation whose relative amplitude, a measure of vibronic intensity borrowing from resonance between donor and acceptor states, scales with both energy-transfer rates and damping rates. Central exciton splitting may aid in bringing the vibronically linked donor and acceptor states into better resonance resulting in the observed doubled rate in the closed structures. Several excited-state vibrational wavepackets persist on timescales relevant to energy transfer, highlighting the importance of further investigation of the interplay between electronic coupling and nuclear degrees of freedom in studies on high-efficiency photosynthesis.

Relation between Vibrational Dephasing Time and Energy Gap Fluctuations

Dephasing processes are present in basically all applications in which quantum mechanics plays a role. These applications certainly include excitation energy and charge transfer in biological systems. In a previous study, we have analyzed the vibrational dephasing time as a function of energy gap fluctuation for a large set of molecular simulations. In that investigation, individual molecular subunits were the focus of the calculations. The set of studied molecules included bacteriochlorophylls in Fenna-Matthews-Olson and light-harvesting system 2 complexes as well as bilins in PE545 aggregates. The present work extends this study to entire complexes, including the respective intermolecular couplings. Again, it can be concluded that a universal and inverse proportionality exists between dephasing time and variance of the excitonic energy gap fluctuations, whereas the respective proportionality constants can be rationalized using the energy gap autocorrelation functions. Furthermore, these findings can be extended to the gaps between higher-lying neighboring excitonic states.

Atomistic non-adiabatic dynamics of the LH2 complex with a GPU-accelerated ab initio exciton model

We present GPU-accelerated ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of nonadiabatic dynamics in the LH2 complex in full atomistic detail.

Correlated Fluctuations and Intraband Dynamics of J-Aggregates Revealed by Combination of 2DES Schemes

The intraband exciton dynamics of molecular aggregates is a crucial initial step to determine the possibly coherent nature of energy transfer and its implications for the ensuing interband relaxation pathways in strongly coupled excitonic systems. In this work, we fully characterize the intraband dynamics in linear J-aggregates of porphyrins, good model systems for multichromophoric assemblies in biological antenna complexes. Using different 2D electronic spectroscopy schemes together with Raman spectroscopy and theoretical modeling, we provide a full characterization of the inner structure of the main one-exciton band of the porphyrin aggregates. We find that the redistribution of population within the band occurs with a characteristic time of 280 fs and dominates the modulation of an electronic coherence. While we do not find that the coupling to vibrations significantly affects the dynamics of excitonic coherence, our results suggest that exciton fluctuations are nevertheless highly correlated.

Fluorescence-excitation and Emission Spectroscopy on Single FMO Complexes

In green-sulfur bacteria sunlight is absorbed by antenna structures termed chlorosomes, and transferred to the RC via the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex. FMO consists of three monomers arranged in C3 symmetry where each monomer accommodates eight Bacteriochlorophyll a (BChl a) molecules. It was the first pigment-protein complex for which the structure has been determined with high resolution and since then this complex has been the subject of numerous studies both experimentally and theoretically. Here we report about fluorescence-excitation spectroscopy as well as emission spectroscopy from individual FMO complexes at low temperatures. The individual FMO complexes are subjected to very fast spectral fluctuations smearing out any possible different information from the ensemble data that were recorded under the same experimental conditions. In other words, on the time scales that are experimentally accessible by single-molecule techniques, the FMO complex exhibits ergodic behaviour.

Communication: Coherences observed in vivo in photosynthetic bacteria using two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy

Energy transfer through large disordered antenna networks in photosynthetic organisms can occur with a quantum efficiency of nearly 100%. This energy transfer is facilitated by the electronic structure of the photosynthetic antennae as well as interactions between electronic states and the surrounding environment. Coherences in time-domain spectroscopy provide a fine probe of how a system interacts with its surroundings. In two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy, coherences can appear on both the ground and excited state surfaces revealing detailed information regarding electronic structure, system-bath coupling, energy transfer, and energetic coupling in complex chemical systems. Numerous studies have revealed coherences in isolated photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes, but these coherences have not been observed in vivo due to the small amplitude of these signals and the intense scatter from whole cells. Here, we present data acquired using ultrafast video-acquisition gradient-assisted photon echo spectroscopy to observe quantum beating signals from coherences in vivo. Experiments were conducted on isolated light harvesting complex II (LH2) from Rhodobacter sphaeroides, whole cells of R. sphaeroides, and whole cells of R. sphaeroides grown in 30% deuterated media. A vibronic coherence was observed following laser excitation at ambient temperature between the B850 and the B850(∗) states of LH2 in each of the 3 samples with a lifetime of ∼40-60 fs.

Towards quantification of vibronic coupling in photosynthetic antenna complexes

Photosynthetic antenna complexes harvest sunlight and efficiently transport energy to the reaction center where charge separation powers biochemical energy storage. The discovery of existence of long lived quantum coherence during energy transfer has sparked the discussion on the role of quantum coherence on the energy transfer efficiency. Early works assigned observed coherences to electronic states, and theoretical studies showed that electronic coherences could affect energy transfer efficiency--by either enhancing or suppressing transfer. However, the nature of coherences has been fiercely debated as coherences only report the energy gap between the states that generate coherence signals. Recent works have suggested that either the coherences observed in photosynthetic antenna complexes arise from vibrational wave packets on the ground state or, alternatively, coherences arise from mixed electronic and vibrational states. Understanding origin of coherences is important for designing molecules for efficient light harvesting. Here, we give a direct experimental observation from a mutant of LH2, which does not have B800 chromophores, to distinguish between electronic, vibrational, and vibronic coherence. We also present a minimal theoretical model to characterize the coherences both in the two limiting cases of purely vibrational and purely electronic coherence as well as in the intermediate, vibronic regime.

Detection of dark states in two-dimensional electronic photon-echo signals via ground-state coherence

Several recent experiments report on possibility of dark-state detection by means of so called beating maps of two-dimensional photon-echo spectroscopy [Ostroumov et al., Science 340, 52 (2013); Bakulin et al., Ultrafast Phenomena XIX (Springer International Publishing, 2015)]. The main idea of this detection scheme is to use coherence induced upon the laser excitation as a very sensitive probe. In this study, we investigate the performance of ground-state coherence in the detection of dark electronic states. For this purpose, we simulate beating maps of several models where the excited-state coherence can be hardly detected and is assumed not to contribute to the beating maps. The models represent strongly coupled electron-nuclear dynamics involving avoided crossings and conical intersections. In all the models, the initially populated optically accessible excited state decays to a lower-lying dark state within few hundreds femtoseconds. We address the role of Raman modes and of interstate-coupling nature. Our findings suggest that the presence of low-frequency Raman active modes significantly increases the chances for detection of dark states populated via avoided crossings, whereas conical intersections represent a more challenging task.

Dark States in the Light-Harvesting complex 2 Revealed by Two-dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy

Energy transfer and trapping in the light harvesting antennae of purple photosynthetic bacteria is an ultrafast process, which occurs with a quantum efficiency close to unity. However the mechanisms behind this process have not yet been fully understood. Recently it was proposed that low-lying energy dark states, such as charge transfer states and polaron pairs, play an important role in the dynamics and directionality of energy transfer. However, it is difficult to directly detect those states because of their small transition dipole moment and overlap with the B850/B870 exciton bands. Here we present a new experimental approach, which combines the selectivity of two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy with the availability of genetically modified light harvesting complexes, to reveal the presence of those dark states in both the genetically modified and the wild-type light harvesting 2 complexes of Rhodopseudomonas palustris. We suggest that Nature has used the unavoidable charge transfer processes that occur when LH pigments are concentrated to enhance and direct the flow of energy.

Polaronic effects at finite temperatures in the B850 ring of the LH2 complex

Energy transfer and relaxation dynamics in the B850 ring of LH2 molecular aggregates are described, taking into account the polaronic effects, by a stochastic time-dependent variational approach.

Dynamics of exciton-polaron transition in molecular assemblies: the variational approach

Dynamics of excitonic polaron formation in molecular systems coupled to an overdamped bath are investigated using the Dirac-Frenkel variational principle and Davydov D1 Ansatz. Using a two-site model system we show that a few qualitatively distinct relaxation regimes of an optically created exciton are possible, depending on the timescale of bath fluctuations. A slow bath always leads to adiabatic polaron formation. Non-adiabatic exciton self-trapping occurs when the system is strongly coupled to a fast bath. Weak coupling to such bath does not perturb the excitonic picture. The complex system-bath dynamics can then be mapped to an effective model where the resonant coupling between sites is quenched during relaxation. The timescale of the polaron formation can be defined by the timescale of resonant coupling quenching, and is found to directly correlate with the bath relaxation time.

Structure and energy transfer in photosystems of oxygenic photosynthesis

Oxygenic photosynthesis is the principal converter of sunlight into chemical energy on Earth. Cyanobacteria and plants provide the oxygen, food, fuel, fibers, and platform chemicals for life on Earth. The conversion of solar energy into chemical energy is catalyzed by two multisubunit membrane protein complexes, photosystem I (PSI) and photosystem II (PSII). Light is absorbed by the pigment cofactors, and excitation energy is transferred among the antennae pigments and converted into chemical energy at very high efficiency. Oxygenic photosynthesis has existed for more than three billion years, during which its molecular machinery was perfected to minimize wasteful reactions. Light excitation transfer and singlet trapping won over fluorescence, radiation-less decay, and triplet formation. Photosynthetic reaction centers operate in organisms ranging from bacteria to higher plants. They are all evolutionarily linked. The crystal structure determination of photosynthetic protein complexes sheds light on the various partial reactions and explains how they are protected against wasteful pathways and why their function is robust. This review discusses the efficiency of photosynthetic solar energy conversion.

Electronic coherence and the kinetics of inter-complex energy transfer in light-harvesting systems

Comparison of inter-complex excitation energy transfer rates obtained in a general system (original, red) and in an alternative parameterization of the system that preserves static coherence while eliminating dynamic coherence (SCP, black) reveals that static coherence largely governs the kinetics of incoherent inter-complex EET in model light-harvesting networks, whereas dynamic coherence plays only a minor role.

Biological charge transfer via flickering resonance

Biological electron-transfer (ET) reactions are typically described in the framework of coherent two-state electron tunneling or multistep hopping. However, these ET reactions may involve multiple redox cofactors in van der Waals contact with each other and with vibronic broadenings on the same scale as the energy gaps among the species. In this regime, fluctuations of the molecular structures and of the medium can produce transient energy level matching among multiple electronic states. This transient degeneracy, or flickering electronic resonance among states, is found to support coherent (ballistic) charge transfer. Importantly, ET rates arising from a flickering resonance (FR) mechanism will decay exponentially with distance because the probability of energy matching multiple states is multiplicative. The distance dependence of FR transport thus mimics the exponential decay that is usually associated with electron tunneling, although FR transport involves real carrier population on the bridge and is not a tunneling phenomenon. Likely candidates for FR transport are macromolecules with ET groups in van der Waals contact: DNA, bacterial nanowires, multiheme proteins, strongly coupled porphyrin arrays, and proteins with closely packed redox-active residues. The theory developed here is used to analyze DNA charge-transfer kinetics, and we find that charge-transfer distances up to three to four bases may be accounted for with this mechanism. Thus, the observed rapid (exponential) distance dependence of DNA ET rates over distances of ≲ 15 Å does not necessarily prove a tunneling mechanism.

Probing energy transfer events in the light harvesting complex 2 (LH2) of Rhodobacter sphaeroides with two-dimensional spectroscopy

Excitation energy transfer events in the photosynthetic light harvesting complex 2 (LH2) of Rhodobacter sphaeroides are investigated with polarization controlled two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy. A spectrally broadened pulse allows simultaneous measurement of the energy transfer within and between the two absorption bands at 800 nm and 850 nm. The phased all-parallel polarization two-dimensional spectra resolve the initial events of energy transfer by separating the intra-band and inter-band relaxation processes across the two-dimensional map. The internal dynamics of the 800 nm region of the spectra are resolved as a cross peak that grows in on an ultrafast time scale, reflecting energy transfer between higher lying excitations of the B850 chromophores into the B800 states. We utilize a polarization sequence designed to highlight the initial excited state dynamics which uncovers an ultrafast transfer component between the two bands that was not observed in the all-parallel polarization data. We attribute the ultrafast transfer component to energy transfer from higher energy exciton states to lower energy states of the strongly coupled B850 chromophores. Connecting the spectroscopic signature to the molecular structure, we reveal multiple relaxation pathways including a cyclic transfer of energy between the two rings of the complex.

Persistent Inter-Excitonic Quantum Coherence in CdSe Quantum Dots

The creation and manipulation of quantum superpositions is a fundamental goal for the development of materials with novel optoelectronic properties. In this letter, we report persistent (~80 fs lifetime) quantum coherence between the 1S and 1P excitonic states in zinc-blende colloidal CdSe quantum dots at room temperature, measured using Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy. We demonstrate that this quantum coherence manifests as an intradot phenomenon, the frequency of which depends on the size of the dot excited within the ensemble of QDs. We model the lifetime of the coherence and demonstrate that correlated interexcitonic fluctuations preserve relative phase between excitonic states. These observations suggest an avenue for engineering long-lived interexcitonic quantum coherence in colloidal quantum dots.

Dynamic localization of electronic excitation in photosynthetic complexes revealed with chiral two-dimensional spectroscopy

Time-resolved ultrafast optical probes of chiral dynamics provide a new window allowing us to explore how interactions with such structured environments drive electronic dynamics. Incorporating optical activity into time-resolved spectroscopies has proven challenging because of the small signal and large achiral background. Here we demonstrate that two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy can be adapted to detect chiral signals and that these signals reveal how excitations delocalize and contract following excitation. We dynamically probe the evolution of chiral electronic structure in the light-harvesting complex 2 of purple bacteria following photoexcitation by creating a chiral two-dimensional mapping. The dynamics of the chiral two-dimensional signal directly reports on changes in the degree of delocalization of the excitonic states following photoexcitation. The mechanism of energy transfer in this system may enhance transfer probability because of the coherent coupling among chromophores while suppressing fluorescence that arises from populating delocalized states. This generally applicable spectroscopy will provide an incisive tool to probe ultrafast transient molecular fluctuations that are obscured in non-chiral experiments.

Energy Transfer Observed in Live Cells Using Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy

Two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2DES) elucidates electronic structure and dynamics on a femtosecond time scale and has proven to be an incisive tool for probing congested linear spectra of biological systems. However, samples that scatter light intensely frustrate 2DES analysis, necessitating the use of isolated protein chromophore complexes when studying photosynthetic energy transfer processes. We present a method for conducting 2DES experiments that takes only seconds to acquire thousands of 2DES spectra and permits analysis of highly scattering samples, specifically whole cells of the purple bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides. These in vivo 2DES experiments reveal similar timescales for energy transfer within the antennae complex (light harvesting complex 2, LH2) both in the native photosynthetic membrane environment and in isolated detergent micelles.