More than just smoke and mirrors: Gas-phase polaritons for optical control of chemistry

TL;DR

This paper discusses recent advances in gas-phase polaritons, highlighting their potential for optical control of chemical reactions and providing a guide for future experimental design in this emerging field.

Contribution

It reviews recent developments in gas-phase polariton chemistry and offers practical guidance for designing experiments to study polariton effects on isolated molecules.

Findings

Gas-phase polaritons enable studying molecular reactivity without solvent interference.

Recent demonstrations show formation of molecular polaritons in the gas phase.

The approach facilitates quantum state resolution of reaction dynamics.

Abstract

Gas-phase molecules are a promising platform through which to elucidate the mechanisms of action and scope of polaritons for optical control of chemistry. Polaritons arise from the strong coupling of a dipole-allowed molecular transition with the photonic mode of an optical cavity. There is mounting evidence of modified reactivity under polaritonic conditions; however, the complex condensed-phase environment of most experimental demonstrations impedes mechanistic understanding of this phenomenon. While the gas phase was the playground of early efforts in atomic cavity quantum electrodynamics, we have only recently demonstrated the formation of molecular polaritons under these conditions. Studying the reactivity of isolated gas-phase molecules under strong coupling would eliminate solvent interactions and enable quantum state resolution of reaction progress. In this Perspective, we contextualize recent gas-phase efforts in the field of polariton chemistry and offer a practical guide for experiment design moving forward.