Quantum coherence and decoherence in biological complexes
- đ¤ Speaker: Dr Martin Plenio (Imperial College, London)
- đ Date & Time: Monday 02 February 2009, 15:30 - 17:00
- đ Venue: Pippard Lecture Theatre, Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics
Abstract
Motivated by recent experiments carrying out spectroscopy on parts of photosynthetic complexes we investigate the interplay between noise and quantum coherence in energy transport. Environmental noise is generally expected to hinder transport processes. We show that transport of excitations across dissipative quantum networks can be enhanced by noise. At the example of the FMO complex we explain the underlying physical mechanisms behind this phenomenon. These results point towards the possibility for designing optimized structures for transport, for example in artificial nano-structures, assisted by noise. On a more fundamental level I investigate how entanglement might be generated or enhanced in stationary and non-stationary equlibrium systems which suggests mechanisms by which entanglement may arise in biological complexes.
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Dr Martin Plenio (Imperial College, London)
Monday 02 February 2009, 15:30-17:00