The optical hybridization of electronic states in strongly coupled molecule-cavity systems have revealed unique properties such as lasing, modification of energy landscape governing reactions pathway, and tuning molecular materials work-function [1, 2].
Recently, we were able to show that molecular vibrational modes of the electronic ground state can be also coherently coupled to a micro-cavity mode at room temperature. Collective coupling of large ensemble of molecules immersed within the cavity mode volume enables the enhancement of the Rabi-exchange rate with respect to the single oscillator coupling strength [3]. The large shifts, induced by strong coupling, in the vibrational fundamental frequency of selected molecular bonds should have profound consequences for chemistry, both hot and cold.
Alternatively, strong coupling of molecular vibrations can be achieved using periodically arranged metallic micro-structures with extremely sharp resonances in the IR region. Obtaining large splitting in the vibrational bands energies, using these highly confined surface modes, enables probing chemical and biological entities and processes given under strong coupling, opening many possibilities for molecular science.
[1] J. A. Hutchison, et al., Angewandte Chemie, 51, 7, 1592-1596, 2012.
[2] J. A. Hutchison, et al., Advanced Materials, 25, 17, 2481-2485, 2013.
[3] A. Shalabney et al., ArXiv e-prints (2014), arXiv:1403.1050 [quant-ph].
shalabney@unistra.fr