Beyond the Cavity: Molecular Strong Coupling using an Open Fabry-Perot Cavity

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel open Fabry-Perot cavity design that enables strong molecular light-matter coupling with independent control, open access, and uniformity, advancing applications in polariton-based technologies.

Contribution

The authors present a simple, open cavity design that combines all desired features for molecular strong coupling, surpassing limitations of existing cavity architectures.

Findings

Demonstrated strong excitonic coupling with the new cavity design

Achieved independent control over polariton dispersion

Indicated potential for vibrational strong coupling applications

Abstract

The coherent strong coupling of molecules with confined light fields to create polaritons - part matter, part light - is opening exciting opportunities ranging from extended exciton transport and inter-molecular energy transfer to modified chemistry and material properties. In many of the envisaged applications open access to the molecules involved is vital, as is independent control over polariton dispersion, and spatial uniformity. 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 of the the desired features. We hope the approach we offer here will provide a new technology platform to both study and exploit molecular strong coupling. Although our experimental demonstration is based on excitonic strong coupling, we also indicate how the approach might also be achieved for vibrational strong coupling.