Mostame, SarahRebentrost, PatrickEisfeld, AlexanderKerman, Andrew J.Tsomokos, Dimitris I.Aspuru-Guzik, Alan2013-03-012012Mostame, Sarah, Patrick Rebentrost, Alexander Eisfeld, Andrew J. Kerman, Dimitris I. Tsomokos, and Alán Aspuru-Guzik. 2012. Quantum simulator of an open quantum system using superconducting qubits: Exciton transport in photosynthetic complexes. New Journal of Physics 14:105013.1367-2630http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:10357476Open quantum system approaches are widely used in the description of physical, chemical and biological systems. A famous example is electronic excitation transfer in the initial stage of photosynthesis, where harvested energy is transferred with remarkably high efficiency to a reaction center. This transport is affected by the motion of a structured vibrational environment, which makes simulations on a classical computer very demanding. Here we propose an analog quantum simulator of complex open system dynamics with a precisely engineered quantum environment. Our setup is based on superconducting circuits, a well established technology. As an example, we demonstrate that it is feasible to simulate exciton transport in the Fenna–Matthews–Olson photosynthetic complex. Our approach allows for a controllable single-molecule simulation and the investigation of energy transfer pathways as well as non-Markovian noise-correlation effects.en-USlight-harvesting complexesMatthews-Olson complexenergy-transfercoherencedynamicsmotionspectroscopytemperaturecomputationabsorptionJournal Article2013-03-0110.1088/1367-2630/14/10/105013