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arXiv · 2610.13949

Non-Monotonic Exciton Transport Efficiency in Multi-layer Ring-shaped Quantum Networks inspired by Photosystem I

Yi Li·Rui Li·Kai-Ya Zhang·Ming-Zi Jin·Tao Liu·Qing Ai
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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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Yi Li, Rui Li, Kai-Ya Zhang, Ming-Zi Jin, Tao Liu, Qing Ai. 2026-07-23. Non-Monotonic Exciton Transport Efficiency in Multi-layer Ring-shaped Quantum Networks inspired by Photosystem I. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.13949

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