Quantum effects in biology and chemistry

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Our research group will address questions at the forefront of the rapidly developing and extremely important field of quantum coherence in chemistry and biology. Recent developments were triggered, in part, by new discoveries made in our laboratory and at UC Berkeley related to how nature takes advantage of the quantum mechanical properties of specific arrangements of light-absorbing materials to efficiently transmit and store solar energy. Our studies of marine algae in addition our recent experiments with conjugated polymers (like those used in plastic solar cells and displays) suggest that it is possible to achieve control using quantum effects, even under room temperature conditions. This is striking because previously researchers thought that these kinds of quantum effects could only operate in complex systems at very low temperatures. This has captured the imagination of science writers including one in Scientific American who recently reported on our experiments. Prevailing femtosecond laser experiments measure rates of processes, while the new experiments we will undertake elucidate the *mechanism* of processes on the femtosecond time scale, so we are able to learn how and why they happen. We propose experiments to answer questions about how photosynthetic algae harvest solar energy and how they take advantage of the laws of quantum mechanics.