Non-polaritonic effects in cavity-modified photochemistry

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Thomas, Philip A., Tan, Wai Jue, Kravets, Vasyl G., Grigorenko, Alexander N., Barnes, William L.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2023
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author Thomas, Philip A.
Tan, Wai Jue
Kravets, Vasyl G.
Grigorenko, Alexander N.
Barnes, William L.
author_facet Thomas, Philip A.
Tan, Wai Jue
Kravets, Vasyl G.
Grigorenko, Alexander N.
Barnes, William L.
contents Strong coupling of molecules to vacuum fields has been widely reported to lead to modified chemical properties such as reaction rates. However, some recent attempts to reproduce infrared strong coupling results have not been successful, suggesting that factors other than strong coupling may sometimes be involved. Here we re-examine the first of these vacuum-modified chemistry experiments in which changes to a molecular photoisomerisation process in the UV-vis spectral range were attributed to strong coupling of the molecules to visible light. We observed significant variations in photoisomerisation rates consistent with the original work; however, we found no evidence that these changes need to be attributed to strong coupling. Instead, we suggest that the photoisomerisation rates involved are most strongly influenced by the absorption of ultraviolet radiation in the cavity. Our results indicate that care must be taken to rule out non-polaritonic effects before invoking strong coupling to explain any changes of chemical properties arising in cavity-based experiments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2306_05506
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Non-polaritonic effects in cavity-modified photochemistry
Thomas, Philip A.
Tan, Wai Jue
Kravets, Vasyl G.
Grigorenko, Alexander N.
Barnes, William L.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Chemical Physics
Optics
Strong coupling of molecules to vacuum fields has been widely reported to lead to modified chemical properties such as reaction rates. However, some recent attempts to reproduce infrared strong coupling results have not been successful, suggesting that factors other than strong coupling may sometimes be involved. Here we re-examine the first of these vacuum-modified chemistry experiments in which changes to a molecular photoisomerisation process in the UV-vis spectral range were attributed to strong coupling of the molecules to visible light. We observed significant variations in photoisomerisation rates consistent with the original work; however, we found no evidence that these changes need to be attributed to strong coupling. Instead, we suggest that the photoisomerisation rates involved are most strongly influenced by the absorption of ultraviolet radiation in the cavity. Our results indicate that care must be taken to rule out non-polaritonic effects before invoking strong coupling to explain any changes of chemical properties arising in cavity-based experiments.
title Non-polaritonic effects in cavity-modified photochemistry
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Chemical Physics
Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.05506