A transient absorption study of allophycocyanin

Transient dynamics of allophycocyanin trimers and monomers are observed by using the pump-probe, transient absorption technique. The origin of spectral components of the transient absorption spectra is discussed in terms of both kinetics and spectroscopy. We find that the energy gap between the ground and excited states of the unexcited subunit of allophycocyanin monomer decreases via an interaction with another excited subunit. For allophycocyanin trimer, we find that the fast dynamics results from the fast internal conversion and the first excited state is the only one electronic state which can trap the final population.