Casey Myers, University of Queensland
Abstract:
The study of quantum excitation transport has received considerable attention in the literature recently, the motivation for which has been to explain the possible need for quantum mechanics in photosynthesis. For this reason researchers have been striving to answer the question of whether the presence of quantum coherence or quantum noise assists in the directed transfer of excitations in coupled systems. It has also recently been shown that the transport of an excitation along a linear chain of coupled two level systems may be enhanced with a collective coupling to a driven vibrational mode. In this presentation, we incorporate results from quantum ratchet theory to extend this vibrationally assisted transport scheme in two ways. First, we investigate the presence of multiple collective driven vibrational modes to facilitate directed transport. Second, we investigating the case of coupling to a collective vibrational mode without driving.