Achieving electrical conductance in amorphous non-doped polymers is a challenging task. In my talk, I present how a serendipitous experiment led us to the finding that the vibrational strong coupling (VSC) of amorphous polymers such as polystyrene, deuterated polystyrene, poly (benzyl methacrylate), and a few other polystyrene derivatives enhance the electrical conductance by orders of...
Molecular vibrations can couple to optical cavities to create new hybrid states called polaritons. Under such conditions, one may realize modified materials processes such as photon emission, molecular energy transfer, and chemical reaction rates. In this talk, I will first discuss modeling and active control of cavity coupling to molecular vibrations. Next, I will discuss measurements of...
We present recent ab-intio simulation results for matter strongly dressed by optical cavities. Our focus will be on the relevance of classical and quantum features emergent from the vibrational strong coupling to the vacuum field fluctuations at finite temperature. The role and description of cavity induced non-canoncial equilibrium condition for chemical systems, as well as the relevance of...
Current efforts for implementing cavity QED in the ultrastrong coupling (USC) regime using molecular vibrations in mid-infrared nanoresonators opens exciting opportunities for exploring novel chemical reactivities that exploit quantum correlations with the electromagnetic vacuum at room temperature. While most theoretical studies have primarily focused on rationalizing previous experimental...
Various experiments have demonstrated that strong collective interaction influences chemical reactivity -- it remains to build a conclusive understanding.
Certain aspects such as a resonant behaviour, specific trends in the thermodynamic observables, and a strong sensitivity to the solvent have been identified as critical.
Capturing those effects in a consistent theoretical model is...
In many of the envisaged applications of strong coupling, especially polaritonic chemistry, open access to the molecules involved is vital, as is independent control over polariton dispersion, and spatial uniformity of the coupling. Existing cavity designs are not able to offer all of these advantages simultaneously. Here we demonstrate an alternative yet simple cavity design that exhibits all...
Through the strong coupling of molecular vibrational modes with photonic modes, intriguing molecular vibrational polariton states and dark reservoir modes emerge. These polaritons, exhibiting a dual nature of matter and light, have the potential to modify chemical reactions under thermally activated conditions, paving the way for the emerging field of polariton chemistry. Distinguishing...
Recent numerical experiments on (a) consequences of vibrational strong coupling (b) polariton propagation and (c) manifestation of collective molecular response in optical cavities will be presented and discussed.
