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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Principles underlying efficient exciton transport unveiled by information-geometric analysis

Scott Davidson1,*, Felix A. Pollock2,†, and Erik Gauger1,‡

  • 1SUPA, Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, United Kingdom
  • 2School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia

  • *sd109@hw.ac.uk
  • †felix.pollock@monash.edu
  • ‡e.gauger@hw.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. Research 3, L032001 – Published 1 July, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.L032001

Abstract

Adapting techniques from the field of information geometry, we show that open quantum system models of Frenkel exciton transport, a prevalent process in photosynthetic networks, belong to a class of mathematical models known as “sloppy.” Performing a Fisher-information-based multiparameter sensitivity analysis to investigate the full dynamical evolution of the system and reveal this sloppiness, we establish which features of a transport network lie at the heart of efficient performance. We find that fine tuning the excitation energies in the network is generally far more important than optimizing the network geometry and that these conclusions hold for different measures of efficiency and when model parameters are subject to disorder within parameter regimes typical of molecular complexes involved in photosynthesis. Our approach and insights are equally applicable to other physical implementations of quantum transport.

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Phys. Rev. Research 3, L032001– Published 1 July, 2021
  • Received 8 May 2020
  • Revised 31 May 2021
  • Accepted 8 June 2021
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