Thermal disorder prevents the suppression of ultra-fast photochemistry in the strong light-matter coupling regime

Arpan Dutta, Ville Tiainen, Ilia Sokolovskii, Luís Duarte, Nemanja Markešević, Dmitry Morozov, Hassan A. Qureshi, Siim Pikker, Gerrit Groenhof () and J. Jussi Toppari ()
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Arpan Dutta: University of Jyväskylä
Ville Tiainen: University of Jyväskylä
Ilia Sokolovskii: University of Jyväskylä
Luís Duarte: University of Jyväskylä
Nemanja Markešević: University of Jyväskylä
Dmitry Morozov: University of Jyväskylä
Hassan A. Qureshi: University of Jyväskylä
Siim Pikker: University of Jyväskylä
Gerrit Groenhof: University of Jyväskylä
J. Jussi Toppari: University of Jyväskylä

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Strong coupling between molecules and confined light modes of optical cavities to form polaritons can alter photochemistry, but the origin of this effect remains largely unknown. While theoretical models suggest a suppression of photochemistry due to the formation of new polaritonic potential energy surfaces, many of these models do not account for the energetic disorder among the molecules, which is unavoidable at ambient conditions. Here, we combine simulations and experiments to show that for an ultra-fast photochemical reaction such thermal disorder prevents the modification of the potential energy surface and that suppression is due to radiative decay of the lossy cavity modes. We also show that the excitation spectrum under strong coupling is a product of the excitation spectrum of the bare molecules and the absorption spectrum of the molecule-cavity system, suggesting that polaritons can act as gateways for channeling an excitation into a molecule, which then reacts normally. Our results therefore imply that strong coupling provides a means to tune the action spectrum of a molecule, rather than to change the reaction.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50532-5

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