A new study reveals that quantum mechanical effects are crucial for the efficient conversion of sunlight into chemical energy in photosynthetic organisms like plants. This process, involving the transfer of electronic excitation energy, occurs nearly loss-free and remarkably quickly, thanks to the superposition of excited states in chlorophyll molecules.
Photosynthesis -- mainly carried out by plants -- is based on a remarkably efficient energy conversion process. To generate chemical energy, sunlight must first be captured and transported further. This happens practically loss-free and extremely quickly. A new study shows that quantum mechanical effects play a key role in this process.
Photosynthetic organisms such as green plants use quantum mechanical processes to harness the energy of the sun, as Prof. Jürgen Hauer explains:"When light is absorbed in a leaf, for example, the electronic excitation energy is distributed over several states of each excited chlorophyll molecule; this is called a superposition of excited states.
For the study, the researchers examined two specific sections of the spectrum in which chlorophyll absorbs light: the low-energy Q region and the high-energy B region . The Q region consists of two different electronic states that are quantum mechanically coupled. This coupling leads to loss-free energy transport in the molecule. The system then relaxes through"cooling," i.e. by releasing energy in the form of heat.
QUANTUM MECHANICS BIOLOGY PHOTOSYNTHESIS ENERGY TRANSFER CHLOROPHYLL
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