Long-range energy propagation in nanometer arrays of light harvesting antenna complexes.
Here we report the first observation of long-range transport of excitation energy within a biomimetic molecular nanoarray constructed from LH2 antenna complexes from Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Fluorescence microscopy of the emission of light after local excitation with a diffraction-limited light beam reveals long-range transport of excitation energy over micrometer distances, which is much larger than required in the parent bacterial system. The transport was established from the influence of active energy-guiding layers on the observed fluorescence emission. We speculate that such an extent of energy migration occurs as a result of efficient coupling between many hundreds of LH2 molecules. These results demonstrate the potential for long-range energy propagation in hybrid systems composed of natural light harvesting antenna molecules from photosynthetic organisms.
Nanobiophysics, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands.
Maryana
M
Escalante
Aufried
A
Lenferink
Yiping
Y
Zhao
Niels
N
Tas
Jurriaan
J
Huskens
C Neil
CN
Hunter
Vinod
V
Subramaniam
Cees
C
Otto
D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D012242:Rhodobacter sphaeroides / Q000737:chemistry; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013816:Thermodynamics
D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes