Third order nonlinear optical properties of bacteriochlorophylls in bacterial photosynthetic light-harvesting proteins

Lin X. Chen*, Philip D. Laible

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

The third order hyperpolarizability, <γ>, of the ground state S0 of bacteriochlorophyll a (BChla) has been determined using degenerate four wave mixing. The <γ> for BChl a in vivo (the B875 and B850 arrays of light harvesting proteins) is enhanced relative to that in vitro (THF). A significantly higher <γ> in B875 than that in B850 suggests stronger pigment interactions in the former resulting from superior overlap of adjacent macrocycles. In addition, a 50-160 fold increase in <γ> for the S1 excited state of relative to S0 of BChl a in vivo provides an alternative method for probing excited state dynamics and a potential application for molecular switching.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)255-262
Number of pages8
JournalChemical Physics Letters
Volume270
Issue number3-4
DOIs
StatePublished - May 23 1997

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy(all)
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

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