Physics Colloquium: "Probing photosynthesis with quantum light spectroscopies" with Dr. Birgitta Whaley (University of California, Berkeley)
Abstract: Photosynthetic light harvesting in vivo displays near unit quantum efficiency under ultra-weak illumination conditions. A new generation of experimental and theoretical studies using quantum light sources and coincidence counting on photosynthetic systems now allows explicit study of the absorption of individual photons and the dynamical processes following such events. These studies include correlation measurements of incident and fluorescent photons that can reveal the effect of photon statistics on photosynthesis, witness the presence of excitonic and vibrational coherence in
the excited state dynamics, and allow microscopic measurements of quantum efficiency at the level of single photons that is relevant to natural conditions in which this is optimized. I shall summarize recent developments, with discussion of the possible roles of entangled photons and illustration of how these techniques and related theoretical studies can probe the spatiotemporal dynamics of photosynthesis in new and fundamental ways.
