Organic Polaritons Enable Local Vibrations to Drive Long-Range Energy Transfer

TL;DR

This paper investigates how organic polaritons facilitate long-range energy transfer between molecules by acting as non-local intermediaries, using numerical and analytical methods to understand and optimize the process.

Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical and analytical analysis of polariton-mediated energy transfer mechanisms in organic molecules, highlighting the role of the middle polariton as a non-local conduit.

Findings

Middle polariton acts as a non-local intermediary in energy transfer

Numerical simulations reproduce vibrational reservoir effects

Analytical insights identify key physical parameters for efficiency

Abstract

Long-range energy transfer in organic molecules has been experimentally obtained by strongly coupling their electronic excitations to a confined electromagnetic cavity mode. Here, we shed light into the polariton-mediated mechanism behind this process for different configurations: donor and acceptor molecules either intermixed or physically separated. We numerically address the phenomenon by means of Bloch-Redfield theory, which allows us to reproduce the effect of complex vibrational reservoirs characteristic of organic molecules. Our findings reveal the key role played by the middle polariton as the non-local intermediary in the transmission of excitations from donor to acceptor molecules. We also provide analytical insight on the key physical magnitudes that helps to optimize the efficiency of the long-range energy transfer.