The Computational Spectroscopy Group at University of Groningen

Directly Measuring the Connectivity between Isoenergetic Light-Harvesting Antennas in Plant Photosystem II at Physiological Temperature The plant photosystem II (PSII) supercomplex features a relatively “flat” energy landscape in the excitonic energy transfer (EET) network between the light-harvesting antenna and core subunits. The re...

Congratulations to Long and all other co-authors (including @hyperbolictans.bsky.social and @phlambrev.bsky.social) on this paper on using 2D spectroscopy for studying the energy transfer in the flat part of the PSII energy landscape. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

This suggests that the transfer towards the reaction center happens in consecutive steps between neighbouring tubes form the inside of the chlorosome to the outside driven by the entropy gain of moving to tubes containing more molecules.

Among other things Gijsbert found that the energy transfer between neighbouring tubes is ultrafast despite being incoherent. Transfer between non-neighbouring tubes is much slower.

Modeling incoherent exciton transport between chlorosome tubes Chlorosomes are the antennae of the efficient light harvesting complex in green (non-sulfur) bacteria. The ultrafast energy transfer process in natural light ha

We are excited to share the results of the hard work of PhD student Gijsbert ten Hoven on the energy transfer between chlorosome tubes. The chlorsomes are light-harvesting antenna of green sulphur-bacteria that can thrive at very low light conditions.

pubs.aip.org/aip/jcp/arti...

Energy Transfer between Two-Dimensional Sheets: An Investigation of Chlorosome Lamella Due to the evolutionary adaptation of photosynthetic architecture, chlorosomes are recognized as the most efficient natural light-harvesting systems. The role of the relative orientation of the two-di...

Excited to share our newest paper on energy transfer between two-dimensional systems with a twist: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... as published in J. Phys. Chem. Lett. @pubs.acs.org. This was part of Topmaster Nanoscience student Yieon Park's small research project. @zernike-institute.bsky.social

Congratulations to dr. Kai Zhong, who just graduated with a double degree from our group at @rug.nl and that of @howesiang.bsky.social at NTU, with the Rubicon grant from NWO! He will work with Debora Marks at Harvard Medical School for the coming two years! www.rug.nl/about-ug/lat...

Congratulation dr. Zhong!

It is really happening... Congratulations dr. Zhong!

YouTube video by T.L.C. Jansen Our newest breakthrough research on gravitational wave harvesting

We are excited to share our newest breakthrough science! We think that we solved the worlds energy problem... youtu.be/6Hv2ScTBYxo

Maxim Pchenitchnikov

Thomas La Cour Jansen

Richard Hildner

Cracking the Code of Artificial Light Harvesting 🌿✨

🔬 Read more about how slip-stacking can fine-tune light-harvesting properties! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... #Nanotechnology #ExcitonicEngineering #PhotosynthesisInspired

Introduction to Top Master Programme in Nanoscience Information on the Zernike institute for Advanced Materials Top Master Programme in Nanoscience.

Getting cold feet about graduate school in the US? This interdisciplinary master prepares you for doing a PhD in Europe! For physics and chemistry background students with a bachelor or getting it this year! www.rug.nl/research/zer...

Want to study Nanoscience at a truly international university? Check out the topmaster Nanoscience www.rug.nl/research/zer...

Now the first author, @mkespinozac.bsky.social also joined us on @bsky.app 🥳

A comparative study between phenylglycine and phenylalanine derived peptide hydrogels: Towards atomic elucidation Peptide hydrogels are naturally inspired soft materials which, due to their biocompatibility, are potential candidates for controlled drug delivery ma…

Check out our contribution to this paper on peptide hydrogels! Thanks to Ana Cunha, who did the spectral simulations and to all other co-authors!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The Manhattan exciton size: A physically tractable delocalization measure Delocalized excitations, denoted excitons, play an important role in many systems in chemical physics. The characterization of their extent of delocalization is

Curious about how to measure the delocalization size of Frenkel excitons? In this paper, I explore using a method based on the Manhattan norm.
pubs.aip.org/aip/jcp/arti...

a stack of scientific publications

Have a look at our handpicked "Best of 2024" publications - the personal research highlights of our principal investigators. These are original research works, reviews, or patents authored or co-authored by our team members. Enjoy the science: www.rug.nl/research/zer...

Linear Dichroism Microscopy Resolves Competing Structural Models of a Synthetic Light-Harvesting Complex The initial stages of photosynthesis in light-harvesting antennae, driven by excitonic energy transport, have inspired the design of artificial light-harvesting complexes. Double-walled nanotubes (DWN...

Learn how we used fluorescence spectroscopy to learn more about the molecular structure of double-walled nanotube aggregates. This was done in collaboration with the Hildner and Pshenichnikov groups at the @zernike-institute.bsky.social
pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Computational spectroscopy of complex systems Numerous linear and non-linear spectroscopic techniques have been developed to elucidate structural and functional information of complex systems ranging from n

Interested in Computational Spectroscopy - beyond molecules. Check this 2021 perspective: pubs.aip.org/aip/jcp/arti...

Electronically excited states in cylindrical molecular aggregates: Exciton delocalization, dynamics, and optical response For almost 100 years molecular aggregates have attracted considerable scientific attention, because their electronically excited states feature interesting coll

Check out our recent review on cylindrical molecular aggregates! pubs.aip.org/aip/cpr/arti...

The first step of cyanine dye self-assembly: Dimerization Self-assembling amphiphilic cyanine dyes, such as C8S3, are promising candidates for energy storage and optoelectronic applications due to their efficient energ

We are excited to share the latest research from our lab on dimer formation of self-aggregating dye molecules. Check out the work of Mónica, and our experimental collaborators Sundar, Alexey, and Maxim! pubs.aip.org/aip/jcp/arti...

Application of the Time-Domain Multichromophoric Fluorescence Resonant Energy Transfer Method in the NISE Programme We present the implementation of the time-domain multichromophoric fluorescence resonant energy transfer (TC-MCFRET) approach in the numerical integration of the Schrödinger equation (NISE) program. This method enables the efficient simulation of incoherent energy transfer between distinct segments within large and complex molecular systems, such as photosynthetic complexes. Our approach incorporates a segmentation protocol to divide these systems into manageable components and a modified thermal correction to ensure detailed balance. The implementation allows us to calculate the energy transfer rate in the NISE program systematically and easily. To validate our method, we applied it to a range of test cases, including parallel linear aggregates and biologically relevant systems like the B850 rings from LH2 and the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex. Our results show excellent agreement with previous studies, demonstrating the accuracy and efficiency of our TD-MCFRET method. We anticipate that this approach will be widely applicable to the calculation of energy transfer rates in other large molecular systems and will pave the way for future simulations of multidimensional electronic spectra.

We are excited to share our most recent paper on energy transfer in multi-chromophoric systems: pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
This was a great group effort involving many current and past group members. Thanks to Kai for taking the lead!

Advent calendar - December 11th - Mónica K. Espinoza Cangahuala Advent calendar - December 11th - Mónica K. Espinoza Cangahuala

Meet our group member Mónica K. Espinoza Cangahuala in the Zernike Institute Advent calendar www.rug.nl/research/zer...

Let's start our new BlueSky account with 'Keeping Spectroscopy Weird'. Thanks to the group members for the T-Shirt and @plunje.bsky.social for organising the surprise party... Thanks to @tamalika.bsky.social for taking and sharing the photo.