Quantum effects in biological systems

Mohan Sarovar

doi:10.1117/12.841015

11 February 2010 Quantum effects in biological systems

Mohan Sarovar

Proceedings Volume 7561, Optical Biopsy VII; 75610D (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.841015
Event: SPIE BiOS, 2010, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Identification of non-trivial quantum mechanical effects in the functioning of biological systems has been a long-standing and elusive goal in the fields of physics, chemistry and biology. Recent progress in control and measurement technologies, especially in the optical spectroscopy domain, have made possible the identification of such effects. In particular, electronic coherence was recently shown to survive for relatively long times in photosynthetic light harvesting complexes despite the effects of noisy biomolecular environments. Motivated by this experimental discovery, several recent studies have combined techniques from quantum information, quantum dynamical theory and chemical physics to characterize the extent and nature of quantum dynamics in light harvesting structures. I will review these results and summarize our understanding of the subtle quantum effects in photosynthetic complexes. Then I will outline the remarkable properties of light harvesting complexes that allow quantum effects to be significant at dynamically relevant timescales, despite the decohering biomolecular environment. Finally, I will conclude by discussing the implications of quantum effects in light harvesting complexes, and in biological systems in general.

Citation Download Citation

Mohan Sarovar "Quantum effects in biological systems", Proc. SPIE 7561, Optical Biopsy VII, 75610D (11 February 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.841015

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KEYWORDS

Light harvesting

Quantum information

Quantum efficiency

Proteins

Quantum mechanics

Energy transfer

Quantum physics

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