Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 30, 2026

Angle-resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy At Ultra-low Temperatures
Published on: October 9, 2012
Pathways of energy transfer in LHCII revealed by room-temperature 2D electronic spectroscopy
Kym L Wells1, Petar H Lambrev, Zhengyang Zhang
1Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371, Singapore. howesiang@ntu.edu.sg.
Abstract:
We present here the first room-temperature 2D electronic spectroscopy study of energy transfer in the plant light-harvesting complex II, LHCII. Two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy has been used to study energy transfer dynamics in LHCII trimers from the chlorophyll b Qy band to the chlorophyll a Qy band. Observing cross-peak regions corresponding to couplings between different excitonic states reveals partially resolved fine structure at the exciton level that cannot be isolated by pump-probe or linear spectroscopy measurements alone. Global analysis of the data has been performed to identify the pathways and time constants of energy transfer. The measured waiting time (Tw) dependent 2D spectra are found to be composed of 2D decay-associated spectra with three timescales (0.3 ps, 2.3 ps and >20 ps). Direct and multistep cascading pathways from the high-energy chlorophyll b states to the lowest-energy chlorophyll a states have been resolved occurring on time scales of hundreds of femtoseconds to picoseconds.
Related Concept Videos
Atomic Spectroscopy: Effects of Temperature
At thermal equilibrium, the relative populations of excited and ground state atoms can be estimated using the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution. For example, an increase in temperature...
Energy Diagrams, Transition States, and Intermediates
π Electron Effects on Chemical Shift: Overview
UV–Vis Spectroscopy: Molecular Electronic Transitions
Energy Diagrams - II
The point in the energy diagram at which the system’s potential energy is the lowest is known as the local minima. The system tends to stay in this position indefinitely unless acted upon by a net force. The slope of the potential energy diagram at the local minima is zero, indicating that zero net force is acting on the system. The...
Trends in Lattice Energy: Ion Size and Charge

