The photosystem II complex (PSII) is unique among biological systems in its ability to harness solar energy to split water. A desire to understand the fundamental structure-function relationship, as well as the potential to create artificial mimics has inspired a wealth of studies aimed at understanding PSII's unique capabilities. Despite extensive spectroscopic studies of this system, the mechanisms and timescales of the ultrafast energy transfer and charge separation processes  in the PSII reaction center are not yet fully understood. We have previously performed two dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2DES) on the Qy band of the PSII reaction center, directly observing excitonic coupling in the system, and mapping the exchange of energy among excitonic states with high time resolution. Here we extend the spectral window of our previous measurements to directly detect signatures of intermediate charge separation. We also present simulations of 2DES data based on excitonic models for comparison with our measurements.

2D Electronic spectroscopy of the photosystem II reaction center

246th National Meeting (2013)

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