Hybrid Light-Matter States —Potential for Molecular and Material Sciences—

When molecules or molecular materials are placed in an optical cavity which is resonant with a molecular transition, new hybrid light-matter states can be formed and the molecules are said to be “dressed”. This can occur even in the dark due to strong coupling with the vacuum electromagnetic field. The hybrid light-matter states are collective states involving a large number of molecules and they strongly modify the energy levels of the system. Such features have significant implications for molecular and material sciences from chemical reaction rates to bulk material properties [1-4]. After an introduction to the fundamentals of such dressed molecules, our recent research on this topic will be presented.

1. T. Schwartz et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 1964051 (2011)
2. Hutchison et al, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 51, 1592 (2012)
3. Hutchison et al, Adv. Mater. 25, 2481 (2013)
4. Canaguier-Durand et al, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 52, 10533 (2013)