The principal mid-visible light-harvesting system in cyanobacteria is the phycobilisome. Now, using broadband multidimensional spectroscopy, delocalized vibronic excitations and sub-picosecond excitation transfer pathways have been observed in the rods of intact phycobilisomes. An observed kinetic bottleneck in the phycobilisome’s core arises from the intramolecular charge-transfer character of the bilin chromophores, enabling photoregulatory processes to operate on the >10-ps timescale.
- Sourav Sil
- Ryan W. Tilluck
- Warren F. Beck
