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1. Hidden vibronic and excitonic structure and vibronic coherence transfer in the bacterial reaction center

   https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abk0953  

   Policht, Veronica R.; Niedringhaus, Andrew; Willow, Rhiannon; Laible, Philip D.; Bocian, David F.; Kirmaier, Christine; Holten, Dewey; Mančal, Tomáš; Ogilvie, Jennifer P. (January 2022, Science Advances)

   We report two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2DES) experiments on the bacterial reaction center (BRC) from purple bacteria, revealing hidden vibronic and excitonic structure. Through analysis of the coherent dynamics of the BRC, we identify multiple quasi-resonances between pigment vibrations and excitonic energy gaps, and vibronic coherence transfer processes that are typically neglected in standard models of photosynthetic energy transfer and charge separation. We support our assignment with control experiments on bacteriochlorophyll and simulations of the coherent dynamics using a reduced excitonic model of the BRC. We find that specific vibronic coherence processes can readily reveal weak exciton transitions. While the functional relevance of such processes is unclear, they provide a spectroscopic tool that uses vibrations as a window for observing excited state structure and dynamics elsewhere in the BRC via vibronic coupling. Vibronic coherence transfer reveals the upper exciton of the “special pair” that was weakly visible in previous 2DES experiments. 

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2. Attosecond Intramolecular Scattering and Vibronic Delays

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.203201  

   Ghomashi, Bejan; Douguet, Nicolas; Argenti, Luca (November 2021, Physical Review Letters)
3. Spin–vibronic coherence drives singlet–triplet conversion

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06233-y  

   Rafiq, Shahnawaz; Weingartz, Nicholas P.; Kromer, Sarah; Castellano, Felix N.; Chen, Lin X. (August 2023, Nature)
4. Continuous vibronic symmetries in Jahn–Teller models

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/aac89e  

   Ribeiro, Raphael F; Yuen-Zhou, Joel (August 2018, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter)
5. Quantum-inspired classical algorithms for molecular vibronic spectra

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02308-9  

   Oh, Changhun; Lim, Youngrong; Wong, Yat; Fefferman, Bill; Jiang, Liang (February 2024, Nature Physics)

   Plausible claims for quantum advantage have been made using sampling problems such as random circuit sampling in superconducting qubit devices, and Gaussian boson sampling in quantum optics experiments. Now, the major next step is to channel the potential quantum advantage to solve practical applications rather than proof-of-principle experiments. It has recently been proposed that a Gaussian boson sampler can efficiently generate molecular vibronic spectra, which are an important tool for analysing chemical components and studying molecular structures. The best-known classical algorithm for calculating the molecular spectra scales super-exponentially in the system size. Therefore, an efficient quantum algorithm could represent a computational advantage. However, here we propose an efficient quantum-inspired classical algorithm for molecular vibronic spectra with harmonic potentials. Using our method, the zero-temperature molecular vibronic spectra problems that correspond to Gaussian boson sampling can be exactly solved. Consequently, we demonstrate that those problems are not candidates for quantum advantage. We then provide a more general molecular vibronic spectra problem, which is also chemically well motivated, for which our method does not work and so might be able to take advantage of a boson sampler. 

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