Kavli Affiliate: Birgitta Whaley
| First 5 Authors: Zeng-Zhao Li, K. Birgitta Whaley, , ,
| Summary:
Emulation of energy transfer processes in natural systems on quantum
platforms can further our understanding of complex dynamics in nature. One
notable example is the demonstration of vibrationally assisted energy transfer
(VAET) on a trapped-ion quantum emulator, which offers insights for the
energetics of light harvesting. In this work, we expand the study of VAET
simulation with trapped ions to a non-Hermitian quantum system comprising a
$mathscr{PT}$-symmetric chromophore dimer weakly coupled to a vibrational
mode. We first characterize exceptional points (EPs) and non-Hermitian features
of the excitation energy transfer processes in the absence of the vibration.
Exploring the non-Hermitian dynamics of the whole system including vibrations,
we find that energy transfer accompanied by absorption of phonons from a
vibrational mode can be significantly enhanced near an EP. Our calculations
reveal a unique spectral feature signifying the coalescing of eigenstates and
eigenenergies, providing a novel fluorescence-detected vibrational spectroscopy
approach to probe EPs. Enhancement of the VAET process near the EP is found to
be due to maximal favorability of phonon absorption at the EP. Our work on
improving VAET processes in non-Hermitian quantum systems paves the way for
leveraging non-Hermiticity in quantum dynamics related to excitation energy
transfer.
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