Role of Initial Coherence in Excitation Energy Transfer in Fenna-Matthews-Olson Complex

Abstract

We theoretically show that the initial coherence plays a crucial role in enhancing the speed of excitation energy transfer (EET) in Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex. We choose a simplistic eight-level model considering all the bacateriochlorophyll-a sites in a monomer of FMO complex. We make a comparative numerical study of the EET, in terms of non-Markovian evolution of an initial coherent superposition state and a mixed state. A femto-second coherent laser pulse is suitably chosen to create the initial coherent superposition state. Such an initial state relaxes much faster than a mixed state thereby speeding up the EET. In this analysis, we have taken into account the relative orientation of the transition dipole moments of the bacateriochlorophyll-a sites and their relative excitation energies. Our results reveal that for 2D electronic spectroscopy experiments, the existing two-pathway model of energy transfer in FMO complex may not be suitable in our understanding of EET.