title: Electromagnetic optimization of light-harvesting proteins.
abstract: The problem of electromagnetic optimization of the structure of light-harvesting proteins is studied within a simplified diffraction scheme. It is suggested that evolutionary pressures for protein antennae has resulted in molecular structures that optimize the absorption in the light-sensitive pigments. Bacteriorhodopsin is shown to be an exceptional case in terms of optimization, a fact that can be connected to its extremely high sensitivity as a light detector down to a single photon level.
authors.affiliation: The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, SW7 2BW London, United Kingdom. p.etchegoin@ic.ac.uk
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Etchegoin
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Maher