In the T = 1 ps spectrum, a positive cross peak begins to appear, and by 5 ps no population is visible in the B800 band. For a detailed treatment of the theoretical methods used, see Brixner et al. (2004) and Zigmantas et al. (2006). The excellent match between the experimental and simulated spectra demonstrates that the model captures the energy level structure and general dynamical behavior

of the LH3 complex. Furthermore, while the experimental spectra provide a wealth of information alone, the theoretical calculations give deeper insight to the energy transfer mechanisms at work. For example, the theoretical calculations showed energy transfer from the B800 band to dark, high-lying energetic states of the B820 band, a mechanism which increases the rate of energy transfer over that predicted by the traditional Förster theory of energy Danusertib research buy (Scholes and Fleming 2000). The LH3 results hint at the importance of quantum coherence effects in photosynthetic light harvesting. A 2D experiment can also be devised to probe quantum coherence effects directly, in a manner related to the 2CECPE experiment, as first demonstrated by a study of the FMO complex at 77 K (Engel https://www.selleckchem.com/products/epacadostat-incb024360.html et al. 2007). In this experiment, 2D spectra are measured

with smaller selleck intervals between T time-points, such that rapid oscillations in signal amplitude are sampled. These oscillations result from the reversible, wavelike motion of quantum superposition states. The persistence of the oscillations (longer than 660 fs) indicates that the coherent nature of the electronic-excited also states spanning multiple pigments is maintained for a surprisingly long time after laser excitation, whereas it was assumed previously that vibrational motions would destroy the electronic coherence within ~100 fs. Figure 6 demonstrates how taking slices through the 2D spectra of FMO from Chlorobium tepidum and lining them up in T reveals the oscillatory motion. The Fourier transform of the oscillations gives a beat spectrum, revealing the energy differences between coupled excitonic states

giving rise to the quantum interference. As discussed above in the 2CECPE study of the bacterial reaction center, the quantum mechanical nature of energy transfer may be advantageous for more efficient sampling of a complex energy landscape in photosynthetic systems, as well as for robustness against trapping in local energetic minima. Fig. 6 Electronic coherence beating: a representative 2D spectrum is shown in panel a with a line across the main diagonal peak. The amplitude along this diagonal line is plotted against population time in panel b with a black line covering the exciton 1 peak amplitude; the data is scaled by a smooth function effectively normalizing the data without affecting oscillations.