2010/02/02 by Jonathan A. Jones, P. J. Hore, Peter J. Hore · 7 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.cplett.2010.01.063
published as Chem. Phys. Lett. 488, 90-93 (2010) · Chemical Physics Letters, in press. 17 pages including 2 figues; pdf only
openalex publication_date 2010/02/02 · arxiv created 2010/02/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Since the 1970s, spin-selective reactions of radical pairs have been modelled theoretically by adding phenomenological rate equations to the quantum mechanical equation of motion of the radical pair spin density matrix. Here, using a quantum measurement approach, we derive an alternative set of rate expressions which predict a faster decay of coherent superpositions of the singlet and triplet radical pair states. The difference between the two results, however, is not dramatic and would probably be difficult to distinguish experimentally from decoherence arising from other sources.