Enhancing light-harvesting power with coherent vibrational interactions: A quantum heat engine picture
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Recent evidence suggests that quantum effects may have functional importance in biological light-harvesting systems. Along with delocalized electronic excitations, it is now suspected that quantum coherent interactions with certain near-resonant vibrations may contribute to light-harvesting performance. However, the actual quantum advantage offered by such coherent vibrational interactions has not yet been established. We investigate a quantum design principle, whereby coherent exchange of single energy quanta between electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom can enhance a light-harvesting system’s power above what is possible by thermal mechanisms alone. We present a prototype quantum heat engine which cleanly illustrates this quantum design principle and quantifies its quantum advantage using thermodynamic measures of performance. We also demonstrate the principle’s relevance in parameter regimes connected to natural light-harvesting structures.
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The prototype quantum heat engine's quantum advantage using thermodynamic measures of performance has been quantified, and the principle's applicability for realistic biological structures demonstrated.
“Its quantum advantage using thermodynamic measures of performance has been quantified, and the principle's applicability for realistic biological structures demonstrated [133].”
From The future of quantum biology (2018) · cites this paper as [133]
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- Authors
- Killoran, N., Huelga, S. F., & Plenio, M. B.
- Affiliations
- Universität Ulm (DE)
- Venue
- The Journal of Chemical Physics
- Publisher
- AIP Publishing
- Published
- 2015-10-20
- Volume
- 143
- Issue
- 15
- Pages
- 155102-155102
- ISSN
- 0021-9606 (ISSN-L)
- 1089-7690
- OpenAlex
- W1783303650
- Cited by
- 94
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 7.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Locations
- The Journal of Chemical Physics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- European Research Council
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Strong Light-Matter Interactions
- Keywords
- light harvesting, quantum coherence, vibrational energy transfer, quantum heat engines, quantum advantage, vibronic coupling, thermodynamic performance, energy conversion efficiency
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