Abstract
We propose to control the retinal photoisomerization yield through the backaction dynamics imparted by a nonselective optical measurement of the molecular electronic state. This incoherent effect is easier to implement than comparable coherent pulse shaping techniques, and is also robust to environmental noise. A numerical simulation of the quantum dynamics shows that the isomerization yield of this important biomolecule can be substantially increased above the natural limit.
- Received 5 March 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.058301
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