Molecular polaritons for controlling chemistry with quantum optics

TL;DR

This paper introduces molecular polaritons, exploring how strong light-matter coupling in cavities influences chemical reactions and spectroscopy, with implications for quantum control and sensing technologies.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive tutorial on the physical principles, theoretical formulations, and recent developments in molecular polaritons and cavity-modified chemistry.

Findings

Observable effects in transmission spectroscopy due to collective and local interactions

Formal equivalence between quantum and classical transfer matrix methods under certain conditions

Recent advances in strong and ultrastrong coupling with electronic and vibrational transitions

Abstract

This is a tutorial-style introduction to the field of molecular polaritons. We describe the basic physical principles and consequences of strong light-matter coupling common to molecular ensembles embedded in UV-visible or infrared cavities. Using a microscopic quantum electrodynamics formulation, we discuss the competition between the collective cooperative dipolar response of a molecular ensemble and local dynamical processes that molecules typically undergo, including chemical reactions. We highlight some of the observable consequences of this competition between local and collective effects in linear transmission spectroscopy, including the formal equivalence between quantum mechanical theory and the classical transfer matrix method, under specific conditions of molecular density and indistinguishability. We also overview recent experimental and theoretical developments on strong and ultrastrong coupling with electronic and vibrational transitions, with a special focus on cavity-modified chemistry and infrared spectroscopy under vibrational strong coupling. We finally suggest several opportunities for further studies that may lead to novel applications in chemical and electromagnetic sensing, energy conversion, optoelectronics, quantum control and quantum technology.