Abstract
We study the population dynamics and quantum transport efficiency of a multi-site dissipative system driven by a random telegraph noise (RTN) by using a variational polaron master equation for both linear chain and ring configurations. By using two different environment descriptions—RTN only and a thermal bath+RTN—we show that the presence of the classical noise has a non-trivial role on quantum transport. We observe that there exist large areas of parameter space where the combined bath+RTN influence is clearly beneficial for populating the target state of the transport, and for average trapping time and transport efficiency when accounting for the presence of the reaction center via the use of the sink. This result holds for both of the considered intra-site coupling configurations including a chain and ring. In general, our formalism and achieved results provide a platform for engineering and characterizing efficient quantum transport in multi-site systems both for realistic environments and engineered systems.
Highlights
Recent research has shown that quantum transport efficiency can be enhanced by the help of environmental noise, an effect known as environment-assisted quantum transport (ENAQT) [1] or dephasing-assisted transport [2, 3]
We study the transport efficiency of a single electronic excitation, and compare the effect of classical and quantum noise, Efficient quantum transport in a multi-site system combining classical noise and quantum baths3 and their interplay
The results presented above show that a simple classical noise might enhance transport efficiency in a quantum setting similar to ENAQT phenomena
Summary
Recent research has shown that quantum transport efficiency can be enhanced by the help of environmental noise, an effect known as environment-assisted quantum transport (ENAQT) [1] or dephasing-assisted transport [2, 3]. Nesterov et al [7] have studied the dependence of efficient energy transfer (EET) on the correlation properties of the random fluctuations of the protein environment by modeling those fluctuations by RTN for a donor-acceptor system (i.e., a two-level system) They found that in case of strong-electronic coupling, the independent noise fluctuations on the site energies may be more effective in helping EET than collective noise. In order to describe the dynamics of the reduced density matrix of the current system, we adopt the variational polaron master equation for the multi-site spin-boson model derived by Pollock et al [39]. One can use the projection operator method to obtain a master equation for the system density matrix ρS(t) = TrE[ρ(t)] with the Hamiltonian in Eq (4) in the Schrodinger picture as [39]: Efficient quantum transport in a multi-site system combining classical noise and quantum baths. We will focus on a three-site system, in different network configurations, to study the population dynamics, transport efficiency, and exciton trapping times
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