Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics with Organic Materials

imagen

We are developing new theoretical and numerical frameworks to study the complex quantum dynamics of organic materials embedded in optical and infrared optical cavities, in order to address outstanding questions and propose new experiments in the emerging field of organic cavity quantum electrodynamics.

One of our goals is to theoretically construct robust quantum control schemes for the manipulation of optical, electronic and vibrational processes in organic molecular samples under strong and ultrastrong intracavity light-matter coupling. Our current efforts are focused on manipulating chemical reactions and nonlinear optical properties of organic materials, using quantum optics and quantum control techniques.

We are actively developing efficient numerical methods to solve the complex internal quantum dynamics complex molecules in optical and infrared cavities, in order to realistically simulate experimental observables such as the absorption and emission spectra, the rates of chemical reactions and the nonlinear propagation of optical signals.

Representative Publications:

  • F. Herrera, W.L. Barnes, Multiple Interacting Photonic Modes in Strongly Coupled Organic Microcavities, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 3822, 0230343, 2024.
  • W. Ahn, J. F. Triana, F. Recabal, F. Herrera, B. Simpkins, Modification of ground state chemical reactivity via light-matter coherence in infrared cavities, Science 380, 1165, 2023.
  • R. Wilcken, J. Nishida, J. F. Triana, A. John-Herpin, H. Altug, S. Sharma, F. Herrera, M. B. Raschke, Antenna-coupled infrared nanospectroscopy of intramolecular vibrational interaction, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 120, e2220852120, 2023.
  • F. Herrera and J. Owrutsky, Molecular polaritons for controlling chemistry with quantum optics [Perspective], J. Chem. Phys. 152, 100902, 2020.
  • F. Herrera and F. C. Spano, Theory of nanoscale organic cavities: The essential role of vibration-photon dressed states [Review], ACS Photonics 5, 65, 2018
  • M. Litinskaya and F. Herrera, Vacuum-enhanced optical nonlinearities with organic molecular photoswitches, Phys. Rev. B 99, 041107(R), 2019.
  • F. Herrera, B. Peropadre, L. A. Pachon, S. Saikin, A. Aspuru-Guzik, Quantum nonlinear optics with polar J-aggregates in microcavities , J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 5, 3708, 2014