Spectroscopic Studies of Photosynthetic Systems and Their Application in Photovoltaic Devices - Equipment Only: Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-06-175

Spectral hole-burning (SHB) and single photosynthetic complex spectroscopy (SPCS) will be used to study the excitonic structure and excitation energy transfer (EET) processes of several photosynthetic protein complexes at low temperatures. The combination of SHB on bulk samples and SPCS is a powerful frequency domain approach for obtaining data that will address a number of issues that are key tounderstanding excitonic structure and energy transfer dynamics. The long-term goal is to reach a better understanding of the ultrafast solar energy driven primary events of photosynthesis as they occur in higher plants, cyanobacteria, purple bacteria, and green algae. A better understanding of the EET and charge separation (CS) processes taking place in photosynthetic complexes is of greatinterest, since photosynthetic complexes might offer attractive architectures for a future generation of circuitry in which proteins are crystallized.