document: It is well-known that the optical properties of atoms and molecules can be influenced by their electronic environment. Local field effects on spontaneous emission rates within nanostructured photonic materials for example are familiar, and have been well summarized [1]. Optical processes, including resonance energy transfer are similarly dependent on the local environment of molecular chromophores [2–4]. Many biological systems are known to contain complex organizations of molecules with absorption bands shifted due to the electronic influence of other, nearby optical centres. For instance, in widely studied light-harvesting complexes, there are two identifiable forms of the photosynthetic antenna molecule bacteriochlorophyll, with absorption bands centred on 800 and 850nm; it has been shown that the most efficient forms of energy transfer between the two occurs when there is a neighbouring carotenoid species 5–7. Until now, research on the broader influence of a neighbouring, off-resonant, molecule on photon absorption has mostly centred on the phenomenon of induced circular dichroism, where both quantum electrodynamic (QED) calculations [8–10] and experimental procedures [11–13] predict and verify that a chiral mediator confers the capacity for an achiral acceptor to exhibit circular differential absorption.
extractive_keyphrases: absorption bands achiral acceptor atoms carotenoid species chiral mediator circular differential absorption electronic environment electronic influence energy transfer experimental procedures induced circular dichroism local environment of molecular chromophores local field effects molecule molecules nanostructured photonic materials optical processes optical properties photon qed quantum electrodynamic
abstractive_keyphrases: influence of a neighbouring, off-resonant, molecule on photon absorption light-harvesting complexes photon absorption photosynthetic antenna molecule bacteriochlorophyll resonance energy transfer