Bio-inspired building blocks for all-organic metamaterials from visible to near-infrared

Light-harvesting complexes in natural photosynthetic systems, such as those in purple bacteria, consist of photo-reactive chromophores embedded in densely packed “antenna” systems organized in well-defined nanostructures. In the case of purple bacteria, the chromophore antennas are composed of natur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nanophotonics (Berlin, Germany) Germany), 2023-02, Vol.12 (2), p.307-318
Main Authors: Holder, Samuel Thomas, Estévez-Varela, Carla, Pastoriza-Santos, Isabel, Lopez-Garcia, Martin, Oulton, Ruth, Núñez-Sánchez, Sara
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggregates
Antennas
Bacteria
biomimetic
Carotenoids
Chemical composition
Chromophores
Electric fields
excitonic metamaterials
Infrared radiation
J-aggregates
Libraries
Metamaterials
Molecular structure
Organelles
Organic materials
Organic matter
organic metamaterials
Photosynthesis
purple bacteria
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Summary:Light-harvesting complexes in natural photosynthetic systems, such as those in purple bacteria, consist of photo-reactive chromophores embedded in densely packed “antenna” systems organized in well-defined nanostructures. In the case of purple bacteria, the chromophore antennas are composed of natural J-aggregates such as bacteriochlorophylls and carotenoids. Inspired by the molecular composition of such biological systems, we create a library of organic materials composed of densely packed J-aggregates in a polymeric matrix, in which the matrix mimics the optical role of a protein scaffold. This library of organic materials shows polaritonic properties which can be tuned from the visible to the infrared by choice of the model molecule. Inspired by the molecular architecture of the light-harvesting complexes of bacteria, we study the light–matter interactions of J-aggregate-based nanorings with similar dimensions to the analogous natural nanoscale architectures. Electromagnetic simulations show that these nanorings of J-aggregates can act as resonators, with subwavelength confinement of light while concentrating the electric field in specific regions. These results open the door to bio-inspired building blocks for metamaterials from visible to infrared in an all-organic platform, while offering a new perspective on light–matter interactions at the nanoscale in densely packed organic matter in biological organisms including photosynthetic organelles.
ISSN:2192-8614
2192-8606
2192-8614
DOI:10.1515/nanoph-2022-0690