Photosynthesis: Gathering Sunshine with the World’s Smallest Antennas

Research on photosynthetic antenna complexes illuminates how they harvest light in plants, algae and bacteria. This work, posted as a featured articleon the Office of Science’s website, was supported in part by the Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center (PARC) EFRC led by Robert Blankenship at Washington University in St. Louis.

Highlights

View all Highlights

Applying a voltage to lanthanum strontium manganite (LSMO) can cause it to separate into distinct regions with dramatically different magnetic properties, as illustrated by the red and blue colors in the above figure.

Tuning Magnetism With Voltage Opens a New Path to Neuromorphic Circuits

Experiments show that applied voltage can dramatically alter the magnetic properties of quantum materials.

A metallic line atop a medium biased at the edge of chaos can provide effective negative resistance for time-varying signals, outputting a larger signal compared to its input. The energy for amplification comes from the static bias applied to the medium.

The “Edge of Chaos” Amplifies Signals Without Transistors

Emulating the edge of chaos of axons enables a metal wire to overcome its resistance without cooling, thereby amplifying signals flowing inside of it.