Slow Excitation Trapping in Quantum Transport with Long-Range Interactions

Long-range interactions slow down the excitation trapping in quantum transport processes on a one-dimensional chain with traps at both ends. This is counter intuitive and in contrast to the corresponding classical processes with long-range interactions, which lead to faster excitation trapping. We give a pertubation theoretical explanation of this effect.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Energy-scales convergence for optimal and robust quantum transport in photosynthetic complexes

Underlying physical principles for the high efficiency of excitation energy transfer in light-harvesting complexes are not fully understood. Notably, the degree of robustness of these systems for transporting energy is not known considering their realistic interactions with vibrational and radiative environments within the surrounding solvent and scaffold proteins. In this work, we employ an efficient technique to estimate energy transfer efficiency of such complex excitonic systems. We observe that the dynamics of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex leads to optimal and robust energy transport due to a convergence of energy scales among all important internal and external parameters. In particular, we show that the FMO energy transfer efficiency is optimum and stable with respect to the relevant parameters of environmental interactions and Frenkel-exciton Hamiltonian including reorganization energy $\lambda$, bath frequency cutoff $\gamma$, temperature $T$, bath spatial correlations, initial excitations, dissipation rate, trapping rate, disorders, and dipole moments orientations. We identify the ratio of \lambda T/\gamma\*g as a single key parameter governing quantum transport efficiency, where g is the average excitonic energy gap.Comment: minor revisions, removing some figures, 19 pages, 19 figure

Excitation transport through Rydberg dressing

We show how to create long range interactions between alkali-atoms in different hyper-fine ground states, allowing coherent electronic quantum state migration. The scheme uses off resonant dressing with atomic Rydberg states, exploiting the dipole-dipole excitation transfer that is possible between those. Actual population in the Rydberg state is kept small. Dressing offers large advantages over the direct use of Rydberg levels: It reduces ionisation probabilities and provides an additional tuning parameter for life-times and interaction-strengths. We present an effective Hamiltonian for the ground-state manifold and show that it correctly describes the full multi-state dynamics for up to 5 atoms.Comment: 22 pages + 6 pages appendices, 8 figures, replaced with revised version, added journal referenc

Trapped-ion quantum simulation of excitation transport: disordered, noisy, and long-range connected quantum networks

The transport of excitations governs fundamental properties of matter. Particularly rich physics emerges in the interplay between disorder and environmental noise, even in small systems such as photosynthetic biomolecules. Counterintuitively, noise can enhance coherent quantum transport, which has been proposed as a mechanism behind the high transport efficiencies observed in photosynthetic complexes. This effect has been called "environmental-assisted quantum transport" (ENAQT). Here, we propose a quantum simulation of the excitation transport in an open quantum network, taking advantage of the high controllability of current trapped-ion experiments. Our scheme allows for the controlled study of various different aspects of the excitation transfer, ranging from the influence of static disorder and interaction range, over the effect of Markovian and non-Markovian dephasing, to the impact of a continuous insertion of excitations. Our proposal discusses experimental error sources and realistic parameters, showing that it can be implemented in state-of-the-art ion-chain experiments.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

Fully quantum mechanical dynamic analysis of single-photon transport in a single-mode waveguide coupled to a traveling-wave resonator

We analyze the dynamics of single photon transport in a single-mode waveguide coupled to a micro-optical resonator using a fully quantum mechanical model. We examine the propagation of a single-photon Gaussian packet through the system under various coupling conditions. We review the theory of single photon transport phenomena as applied to the system and we develop a discussion on the numerical technique we used to solve for dynamical behavior of the quantized field. To demonstrate our method and to establish robust single photon results, we study the process of adiabatically lowering or raising the energy of a single photon trapped in an optical resonator under active tuning of the resonator. We show that our fully quantum mechanical approach reproduces the semi-classical result in the appropriate limit and that the adiabatic invariant has the same form in each case. Finally, we explore the trapping of a single photon in a system of dynamically tuned, coupled optical cavities.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figure

Correlated electron-hole plasma in organometal perovskites

Organic-inorganic perovskites are a class of solution-processed semiconductors holding promise for the realization of low-cost efficient solar cells and on-chip lasers. Despite the recent attention they have attracted, fundamental aspects of the photophysics underlying device operation still remain elusive. Here we use photoluminescence and transmission spectroscopy to show that photoexcitations give rise to a conducting plasma of unbound but Coulomb-correlated electron-hole pairs at all excitations of interest for light-energy conversion and stimulated optical amplification. The conductive nature of the photoexcited plasma has crucial consequences for perovskite-based devices: in solar cells, it ensures efficient charge separation and ambipolar transport while, concerning lasing, it provides a low threshold for light amplification and justifies a favourable outlook for the demonstration of an electrically driven laser. We find a significant trap density, whose cross-section for carrier capture is however low, yielding a minor impact on device performance