Strong antenna-enhanced fluorescence of a single light-harvesting complex shows photon antibunching

Emilie Wientjes, Jan Renger, Alberto G. Curto, Richard Cogdell and Niek F. van Hulst ()
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Emilie Wientjes: ICFO—Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, Mediterranean Technology Park
Jan Renger: ICFO—Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, Mediterranean Technology Park
Alberto G. Curto: ICFO—Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, Mediterranean Technology Park
Richard Cogdell: Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Biomedical Research Building
Niek F. van Hulst: ICFO—Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, Mediterranean Technology Park

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The nature of the highly efficient energy transfer in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes is a subject of intense research. Unfortunately, the low fluorescence efficiency and limited photostability hampers the study of individual light-harvesting complexes at ambient conditions. Here we demonstrate an over 500-fold fluorescence enhancement of light-harvesting complex 2 (LH2) at the single-molecule level by coupling to a gold nanoantenna. The resonant antenna produces an excitation enhancement of circa 100 times and a fluorescence lifetime shortening to ~\n20 ps. The radiative rate enhancement results in a 5.5-fold-improved fluorescence quantum efficiency. Exploiting the unique brightness, we have recorded the first photon antibunching of a single light-harvesting complex under ambient conditions, showing that the 27 bacteriochlorophylls coordinated by LH2 act as a non-classical single-photon emitter. The presented bright antenna-enhanced LH2 emission is a highly promising system to study energy transfer and the role of quantum coherence at the level of single complexes.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5236

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