Self-trapped excitons in circular cacteriochlorophyll antenna complexes

Fluorescence line narrowing and hole-burning spectroscopic studies of excitons in the LH2 pigment-protein complex, which is a part of the light harvesting system of purple bacteria, are combined with straightforward numerical simulations of the emission spectra based on exciton polaron model. The analysis provides evidence for self-trapping of all the excitons, except the lowest one.