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Exciton dynamics in photosynthetic complexes: excitation by coherent and incoherent light

Publication at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics |
2010

Abstract

We consider the dynamics of a molecular system subjected to external pumping by a light source. Within a completely quantum mechanical treatment, we derive a general formula, which enables us to assess the effects of different light properties on the photo-induced dynamics of excitations in a molecular system.

We show that, once the properties of light are known in terms of a certain two-point correlation function, the only information needed to reconstruct the system dynamics is the reduced evolution superoperator. Considering a direct excitation of a small molecular antenna by incoherent light, we find that excitation of coherences is possible due to the overlap of homogeneous line shapes associated with different excitonic states.