Strong light-matter interaction in organic systems: Crossing the border from physics to chemistry

Strong coupling of light and matter is a regime in which coherent interactions prevail over dissipation. In particular, organic cavities – dyes coupled to an optical resonator – are potential candidates to study strong coupling effects, such as polariton Bose-Einstein condensation and low-threshold lasing, all at room temperature.

On the other hand, organic molecules display a very rich behavior, (e.g. molecular functionality or chemical reactivity) that can lead to new effects when coupled to the electromagnetic field. In my talk I will present our experiments on the photo-physics of organic molecules strongly-coupled to light. Moreover, I will demonstrate a new concept in photochemistry – that the re-arrangement of the energy landscape due to strong coupling can modify the rate of a chemical reaction. This first demonstration, which ties together quantum electrodynamics and chemistry, opens exciting possibilities for tailoring material properties by strong coupling to light.