Exploring Dissipative Excitonic Dynamics:
Consistent Treatments from Weak to Strong Environmental Coupling

Dr Ahsan Nazir

Photon Science Institute and School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manchester, UK

3:30 pm Tuesday, 25 November 2014, EN101 Lecture Theatre (EN Building), Hawthorn.

Recent experiments demonstrating signatures of quantum coherence in the excitonic energy transfer dynamics of a variety of light-harvesting systems have sparked renewed interest in the theoretical modelling of energy transfer processes. A major challenge remains the development of techniques that allow one to probe the diverse parameter regimes relevant to such systems. Master equation methods provide useful tools with which to efficiently analyse energy transfer dynamics in the presence of an external environment. However, they are often valid only in rather restrictive parameter regimes, limiting their applicability in the present context.

Here, I shall review the basics of the master equation formalism and introduce some recent developments in its application to the dissipative dynamics of excitonic systems. These new methods allow for the exploration of a much wider range of parameters, such as weak to strong system-bath coupling, within a consistent approach. They may thus be applied to dissipative dynamics in a variety of physical systems, and I shall discuss specific examples relevant to both molecular energy transfer and phonon damping in driven semiconductor quantum dots.

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