Multi-exponentially photoelectric response of bacteriorhodopsin

A thin oriented bacteriorhodopsin (bR) film is deposited on a stainless steel slide by use of the electrophoretic sedimentation method. A junction is made with electrolyte gels having a counterelectrode to construct a bR-based photoelectric detector. The photoelectric response signal to a 10 ns laser pulse is measured. A theory on the photoelectric kinetics of bR is developed based on the concept of the charge displacement current and the bR photocycle rate equations. Comparison between the theoretical and experimental results proves that the bR photoelectric response to a short laser pulse is a multi-exponential process. The decay time constants and amplitudes of each exponential component are obtained by data fitting.