Entangling a nanomechanical resonator with a microwave field

We show how the coherent oscillations of a nanomechanical resonator can be entangled with a microwave cavity in the form of a superconducting coplanar resonator. Dissipation is included and realistic values for experimental parameters are estimated.Comment: submitted to J. Mod. Op

Robust entanglement of a micromechanical resonator with output optical fields

We perform an analysis of the optomechanical entanglement between the experimentally detectable output field of an optical cavity and a vibrating cavity end-mirror. We show that by a proper choice of the readout (mainly by a proper choice of detection bandwidth) one can not only detect the already predicted intracavity entanglement but also optimize and increase it. This entanglement is explained as being generated by a scattering process owing to which strong quantum correlations between the mirror and the optical Stokes sideband are created. All-optical entanglement between scattered sidebands is also predicted and it is shown that the mechanical resonator and the two sideband modes form a fully tripartite-entangled system capable of providing practicable and robust solutions for continuous variable quantum communication protocols

Multiscale photosynthetic exciton transfer

Photosynthetic light harvesting provides a natural blueprint for bioengineered and biomimetic solar energy and light detection technologies. Recent evidence suggests some individual light harvesting protein complexes (LHCs) and LHC subunits efficiently transfer excitons towards chemical reaction centers (RCs) via an interplay between excitonic quantum coherence, resonant protein vibrations, and thermal decoherence. The role of coherence in vivo is unclear however, where excitons are transferred through multi-LHC/RC aggregates over distances typically large compared with intra-LHC scales. Here we assess the possibility of long-range coherent transfer in a simple chromophore network with disordered site and transfer coupling energies. Through renormalization we find that, surprisingly, decoherence is diminished at larger scales, and long-range coherence is facilitated by chromophoric clustering. Conversely, static disorder in the site energies grows with length scale, forcing localization. Our results suggest sustained coherent exciton transfer may be possible over distances large compared with nearest-neighbour (n-n) chromophore separations, at physiological temperatures, in a clustered network with small static disorder. This may support findings suggesting long-range coherence in algal chloroplasts, and provides a framework for engineering large chromophore or quantum dot high-temperature exciton transfer networks.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. A significantly updated version is now published online by Nature Physics (2012

Nanophotonics of higher-plant photosynthetic membranes

The thylakoid membrane inside chloroplasts hosts the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis. Its embedded protein complexes are responsible for light harvesting, excitation energy transfer, charge separation, and transport. In higher plants, when the illumination conditions vary, the membrane adapts its composition and nanoscale morphology, which is characterized by appressed and non-appressed regions known as grana and stroma lamellae, respectively. Here we investigate the nanophotonic regime of light propagation in chloroplasts of higher plants and identify novel mechanisms in the optical response of the thylakoid membrane. Our results indicate that the relative contributions of light scattering and absorption to the overall optical response of grana strongly depend on the concentration of the light-harvesting complexes. For the pigment concentrations typically found in chloroplasts, the two mechanisms have comparable strengths, and their relative value can be tuned by variations in the protein composition or in the granal diameter. Furthermore, we find that collective modes in ensembles of grana significantly increase light absorption at selected wavelengths, even in the presence of moderate biological disorder. Small variations in the granal separation or a large disorder can dismantle this collective response. We propose that chloroplasts use this mechanism as a strategy against dangerously high illumination conditions, triggering a transition to low-absorbing states. We conclude that the morphological separation of the thylakoid membrane in higher plants supports strong nanophotonic effects, which may be used by chloroplasts to regulate light absorption. This adaptive self-organization capability is of interest as a model for novel bioinspired optical materials for artificial photosynthesis, imaging, and sensing

Does coherence enhance transport in photosynthesis?

Recent observations of coherence in photosynthetic complexes have led to the question of whether quantum effects can occur in vivo, not under femtosecond laser pulses but in incoherent sunlight and at steady state, and, if so, whether the coherence explains the high exciton transfer efficiency. We introduce the distinction between state coherence and process coherence and show that although some photosynthetic pathways are partially coherent processes, photosynthesis in nature proceeds through stationary states. This distinction allows us to rule out several mechanisms of transport enhancement in sunlight. In particular, although they are crucial for understanding exciton transport, neither wavelike motion nor microscopic coherence, on their own, enhance the efficiency. By contrast, two partially coherent mechanisms - ENAQT and supertransfer - can enhance transport even in sunlight and thus constitute motifs for the optimization of artificial sunlight harvesting. Finally, we clarify the importance of ultrafast spectroscopy in understanding incoherent processes