Non-Monotonic Exciton Transport Efficiency in Multi-layer Ring-shaped Quantum Networks inspired by Photosystem I
Abstract
Photosystem I (PSI) is one of the most efficient natural photosynthetic complexes and serves as a structural prototype for understanding excitation energy transfer (EET) and designing artificial light-harvesting systems. Here, we construct a multilayer elliptical-conical quantum network inspired by PSI to investigate how antenna architecture affects EET. Excitation dynamics are simulated using the quantum jump approach combined with coherent modified Redfield theory (QJA-CMRT). The transfer efficiency exhibits a pronounced nonmonotonic dependence on pigment density, reaching a maximum of 0.86 at x=6 in the five-layer network. The optimal configuration contains 91 pigments, close to the number of core antenna pigments in natural PSI. Our combined density-of-states and kinetic analyses reveal that this nonmonotonic dependence originates from a trade-off: at low pigment densities, enhanced band overlap promotes energy transfer, whereas at high densities, excessive exciton delocalization compromises funnel directionality and reduces efficiency; the optimal configuration is consequently achieved at x=6. These findings provide insights into PSI antenna organization and offer guidelines for designing efficient artificial light-harvesting systems.
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BibTeX
@misc{li2026nonmonotonic,
title = {{Non-Monotonic Exciton Transport Efficiency in Multi-layer Ring-shaped Quantum Networks inspired by Photosystem I}},
author = {Yi Li and Rui Li and Kai-Ya Zhang and Ming-Zi Jin and Tao Liu and Qing Ai},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.13949},
eprint = {2610.13949},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.13949},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Non-Monotonic Exciton Transport Efficiency in Multi-layer Ring-shaped Quantum Networks inspired by Photosystem I
AU - Yi Li
AU - Rui Li
AU - Kai-Ya Zhang
AU - Ming-Zi Jin
AU - Tao Liu
AU - Qing Ai
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.13949
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.13949
AB - Photosystem I (PSI) is one of the most efficient natural photosynthetic complexes and serves as a structural prototype for understanding excitation energy transfer (EET) and designing artificial light-harvesting systems. Here, we construct a multilayer elliptical-conical quantum network inspired by PSI to investigate how antenna architecture affects EET. Excitation dynamics are simulated using the quantum jump approach combined with coherent modified Redfield theory (QJA-CMRT). The transfer efficiency exhibits a pronounced nonmonotonic dependence on pigment density, reaching a maximum of 0.86 at x=6 in the five-layer network. The optimal configuration contains 91 pigments, close to the number of core antenna pigments in natural PSI. Our combined density-of-states and kinetic analyses reveal that this nonmonotonic dependence originates from a trade-off: at low pigment densities, enhanced band overlap promotes energy transfer, whereas at high densities, excessive exciton delocalization compromises funnel directionality and reduces efficiency; the optimal configuration is consequently achieved at x=6. These findings provide insights into PSI antenna organization and offer guidelines for designing efficient artificial light-harvesting systems.
ER -