Abstract
Recent evidence of electronic coherence during energy transfer in photosynthetic antenna complexes has reinvigorated the discussion about whether coherence and/or entanglement have any practical functionality for these molecular systems. Here we investigate quantitative relationships between the quantum yield of a light-harvesting complex and the distribution of entanglement among its components. Our study focuses on the entanglement yield or average entanglement surviving a time scale comparable to the average excitation trapping time. We consider the Fenna–Matthews–Olson (FMO) protein of green sulfur bacteria as a prototype system and show that there is an inverse relationship between the quantum efficiency and the average entanglement between distant donor sites. Our results suggest that long-lasting electronic coherence among distant donors might help in the modulation of the light-harvesting function.
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