QUANTUM BIOLOGY

QUANTUM BIOLOGY : ALGAE HAVE EVOLVED THE ABILITY TO TURN ON AND OFF QUANTUM COHERENCE

Researchers from quantxcer have figured out how algae that can tolerate very little light can turn on and off a peculiar quantum process that takes place during photosynthesis. It is not known how this quantum phenomenon, known as coherence, affects algae, although it is theorised that it might increase how effectively they use solar energy.

Understanding its function in a living thing could result in new technological developments like improved organic solar cells and quantum-based electronics.

The research has been released in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
It is a component of a developing area called quantum biology, where there is mounting evidence that quantum phenomena exist outside of the lab and may even explain how birds may use the earth's magnetic field for navigation.

QUANTUM BIOLOGY DESIGN CONCEPTS MAY PAVE THE WAY FOR NEW SOLAR TECHNOLOGY

Researchers from quantxcer have developed a synthetic substance that resembles the intricate quantum dynamics seen in photosynthesis and could open up entirely new paths for developing solar energy systems. The researchers write in the Science Express that it is not only possible but also simpler than anyone anticipated to incorporate quantum effects into artificial light-harvesting systems.

Small compounds that support persistent quantum coherences have been engineered by the researchers.
Coherences are quantum superpositions' macroscopically visible activity. Superpositions, when a single quantum particle, such as an electron, occupies more than one state concurrently, are a fundamental idea in quantum mechanics that are illustrated by the famous Schrodinger's Cat thought experiment.

QUANTUM MICROSCOPY FOR BIOLOGICAL ORGANISMS

Researchers from quantxcer have created a potent microscope that can examine the inner workings of living cells using the principles of quantum mechanics.

The researchers is hopeful that its microscope can help us better comprehend the building blocks of life and eventually open the door to macroscopic studies of quantum physics.

According to one of the researchers , the study's superior measurement precision was made possible by quantum interactions between light photons.

EXCITATIONS THAT OCCUR COLLECTIVELY AND
THE MOVEMENT OF ENERGY IN LIGHT-HARVESTING SYSTEMS

Essentially, photosynthetic antennae are clusters of pigments like (bacterio)chlorophylls and carotenoids that are typically held together by a protein scaffold. When interacting with light, the pigments can no longer function independently due to the coupling between the pigments, which causes a redistribution of transition energies and oscillator strengths. Due to this link between pigments, it is common to explain transport inside PPCs in terms of collective excitations, sometimes known as "excitons," whose wave functions vary on the coupling's characteristics but typically span multiple pigments.

Although it is possible to calculate the spectral observables of PPCs using any basis of quantum mechanical states, such as the individual pigments (site basis) or in another way, an excitonic description is preferred because excitons are thought to represent the stationary eigenstates of the system. These states' signals, which are separate from those linked to the isolated pigments, are what are seen, for example, in an optical absorption spectrum.

COHERENCE AND QUANTUMNESS ARE IMPORTANT THEORETICAL FACTORS

Extended considerations of the quantum nature of energy transmission and its significance, such as for the reliability or effectiveness of photosynthetic processes, can be found in recent research. It is becoming more and more usual to compare coherence to "nontrivial" quantum effects. Coherence is a well-known characteristic of classical systems as well, such as the oscillation of a pendulum or the propagation of electromagnetic waves (28, 29), in which a clearly defined phase connection is maintained. Coherence is not, however, exclusively a trait of quantum systems. Because coherence does not automatically imply quantumness, it is important to define it while discussing "quantum coherent energy transport."

However, it can be challenging to determine precisely what underlying physical events are being described because the definition of coherence is sometimes kept vague. To make things more understandable, we offer a functional definition of coherence in the context of the ultrafast spectroscopic observables as detailed in the following.

INVESTIGATIONS INTO PHOTOSYNTHETIC EXCITONS

We once again stress that the discovery of long-lived oscillations in electronic 2D spectra served as the foundation for the initial argument for the significance of interexciton coherence-or any coherence-in photosynthetic systems. These, with dephasing periods of several hundred femtoseconds or more, were thought to result from linear superpositions of excitonic states. This was interpreted to reflect a link to the kinetics of energy transfer. While the subject of quantum biology as a whole owes much of its development to these experiments, it's crucial to remember that coherence dynamics has a much longer history than this recent surge in interest might imply. In a low-temperature examination of the purple bacterium reaction centre, Vos et al. made the first such observation back in 1991.

In a different early investigation, researchers at quantxcer examined the central light-harvesting complexes (LH1 and LH2) of purple bacteria and came to the following conclusion: Vibrations were the root cause of the observed QBs. By observing oscillations in the pump-probe anisotropy of the FMO complex at 19 K in 1997, Savikhin et al. made the first observation of interexciton coherences contributing to the signals of PPCs. The rapid dephasing of 200 fs was in good agreement with naive predictions for the dephasing of interexciton coherence in a biological system at low temperatures and suggested that this coherence's dephasing in biological conditions should be too rapid to significantly contribute to the function of light-harvesting.