Collective Strong Coupling Modifies Aggregation and Solvation

Molecular Polarizability under Vibrational Strong Coupling

Polaritonic chemistry offers the possibility of modifying molecular properties and even influencing chemical reactivity through strong coupling between vibrational transitions and confined light modes in optical cavities. Despite considerable theoretical progress, and due to the complexity of the coupled light-matter system, the fundamental mechanism of how and if collective strong coupling can induce local changes in individual molecules is still unclear. We derive an analytical formulation of static polarizabilities within linear-response theory for molecules under strong coupling using the cavity Born-Oppenheimer Hartree-Fock ansatz. This ab-initio method consistently describes vibrational strong coupling and electron-photon interactions even for ensembles of molecules. For different types of molecular ensembles, we observed local changes in the polarizabilities and dipole moments that are induced by collective strong coupling. Furthermore, we used the polarizabilities to calculate vibro-polaritonic Raman spectra in the harmonic approximation. This allows us to comprehensively compare the effect of vibrational strong coupling on IR and Raman spectra on an equal footing.

Strong Coupling Quantum Electrodynamics Hartree-Fock Response Theory

The development of reliable ab initio methods for light-matter strong coupling is necessary for a deeper understanding of molecular polaritons. The recently developed strong coupling quantum electrodynamics Hartree-Fock model (SC-QED-HF) provides cavity-consistent molecular orbitals, overcoming several difficulties related to the simpler QED-HF wave function. In this paper, we further develop this method by implementing the response theory for SC-QED-HF. We compare the derived linear response equations with the time-dependent QED-HF theory and discuss the validity of equivalence relations connecting matter and electromagnetic observables. Our results show that electron-photon correlation induces an excitation redshift compared to the time-dependent QED-HF energies, and we discuss the effect of the dipole self-energy on the ground and excited state properties with different basis sets.

Strong Coupling Møller-Plesset Perturbation Theory

Perturbative approaches are methods to efficiently tackle many-body problems, offering both intuitive insights and analysis of correlation effects. However, their application to systems where light and matter are strongly coupled is nontrivial. Specifically, the definition of suitable orbitals for the zeroth-order Hamiltonian represents a significant theoretical challenge. While reviewing previously investigated orbital choices, this work presents an alternative polaritonic orbital basis suitable for the strong coupling regime. We develop a quantum electrodynamical (QED) Møller-Plesset perturbation theory using orbitals obtained from the strong coupling QED Hartree-Fock. We assess the strengths and limitations of the different approaches with emphasis on frequency and coupling strength dispersions, intermolecular interactions and polarization orientational effects. The results show the essential role of using a consistent molecular orbital framework in order to achieve an accurate description of cavity-induced electron-photon correlation effects.

Chiral polaritonics: cavity-mediated enantioselective excitation condensation

Separation of the two mirror images of a chiral molecule, the enantiomers, is a historically complicated problem of major relevance for biological systems. Since chiral molecules are optically active, it has been speculated that strong coupling to circularly polarized fields may be used as a general procedure to unlock enantiospecific reactions. In this work, we focus on how chiral cavities can be used to drive asymmetry in the photochemistry of chiral molecular systems. We first show that strong coupling to circularly polarized fields leads to enantiospecific Rabi splittings, an effect that displays a collective behavior in line with other strong coupling phenomena. Additionally, entanglement with circularly polarized light generates an asymmetry in the enantiomer population of the polaritons, leading to a condensation of the excitation on a preferred molecular configuration. These results confirm that chiral cavities represent a tantalizing opportunity to drive asymmetric photochemistry in enantiomeric mixtures.

Cavity-modified local and non-local electronic interactions in molecular ensembles under vibrational strong coupling

Resonant vibrational strong coupling (VSC) between molecular vibrations and quantized field modes of low-frequency optical cavities constitutes the conceptual cornerstone of vibro-polaritonic chemistry. In this work, we theoretically investigate the role of complementary nonresonant electron-photon interactions in the cavity Born-Oppenheimer (CBO) approximation. In particular, we study cavity-induced modifications of local and non-local electronic interactions in dipole-coupled molecular ensembles under VSC. Methodologically, we combine CBO perturbation theory (CBO-PT) [E. W. Fischer and P. Saalfrank, J. Chem. Theory Comput. 19, 7215 (2023)] with non-perturbative CBO Hartree-Fock (HF) and coupled cluster (CC) theories. In a first step, we derive up to second-order CBO-PT cavity potential energy surfaces, which reveal non-trivial intra- and inter-molecular corrections induced by the cavity. We then introduce the concept of a cavity reaction potential (CRP), minimizing the electronic energy in the cavity subspace to discuss vibro-polaritonic reaction mechanisms. We present reformulations of CBO-HF and CBO-CC approaches for CRPs and derive second-order approximate CRPs from CBO-PT for unimolecular and bimolecular scenarios. In the unimolecular case, we find small local modifications of molecular potential energy surfaces for selected isomerization reactions dominantly captured by the first-order dipole fluctuation correction. Excellent agreement between CBO-PT and non-perturbative wave function results indicates minor VSC-induced state relaxation effects in the single-molecule limit. In the bimolecular scenario, CBO-PT reveals an explicit coupling of interacting dimers to cavity modes besides cavity-polarization dependent dipole-induced dipole and van der Waals interactions with enhanced long-range character. An illustrative CBO-coupled cluster theory with singles and doubles-based numerical analysis of selected molecular dimer models provides a complementary non-perturbative perspective on cavity-modified intermolecular interactions under VSC.

Quantized embedding approaches for collective strong coupling-Connecting ab initio and macroscopic QED to simple models in polaritonics

Collective light-matter interactions have been used to control chemistry and energy transfer, yet accessible approaches that combine ab initio methodology with large many-body quantum optical systems are missing due to the fast increase in computational cost for explicit simulations. We introduce an accessible ab initio quantum embedding concept for many-body quantum optical systems that allows us to treat the collective coupling of molecular many-body systems effectively in the spirit of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics while keeping the rigor of ab initio quantum chemistry for the molecular structure. Our approach fully includes the quantum fluctuations of the polaritonic field and yet remains much simpler and more intuitive than complex embedding approaches such as dynamical mean-field theory. We illustrate the underlying assumptions by comparison to the Tavis-Cummings model. The intuitive application of the quantized embedding approach and its transparent limitations offer a practical framework for the field of ab initio polaritonic chemistry to describe collective effects in realistic molecular ensembles.

Influence of molecular structure on the coupling strength to a plasmonic nanoparticle and hot carrier generation

Strong coupling between metal nanoparticles and molecules mixes their excitations, creating new eigenstates with modified properties such as altered chemical reactivity, different relaxation pathways or modified phase transitions. Here, we explore excited state plasmon-molecule coupling and discuss how strong coupling together with a changed orientation and number of an asymmetric molecule affects the generation of hot carriers in the system. We used a promising plasmonic material, magnesium, for the nanoparticle and coupled it with CPDT molecules, which are used in organic optoelectronic materials for organic electronic applications due to their facile modification, electron-rich structure, low band gap, high electrical conductivity and good charge transport properties. By employing computational quantum electronic tools we demonstrate the existence of a strong coupling mediated charge transfer plasmon whose direction, magnitude, and spectral position can be tuned. We find that the orientation of CPDT changes the nanoparticle-molecule gap for which maximum charge separation occurs, while larger gaps result in trapping hot carriers within the moieties due to weaker interactions. This research highlights the potential for tuning hot carrier generation in strongly coupled plasmon-molecule systems for enhanced energy generation or excited state chemistry.

Direct Observation of Polaritonic Chemistry by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Polaritonic chemistry is emerging as a powerful approach to modifying the properties and reactivity of molecules and materials. However, probing how the electronics and dynamics of molecular systems change under strong coupling has been challenging due to the narrow range of spectroscopic techniques that can be applied in situ. Here we develop microfluidic optical cavities for vibrational strong coupling (VSC) that are compatible with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy using standard liquid NMR tubes. VSC is shown to influence the equilibrium between two conformations of a molecular balance sensitive to London dispersion forces, revealing an apparent change in the equilibrium constant under VSC. In all compounds studied, VSC does not induce detectable changes in chemical shifts, J-couplings, or spin-lattice relaxation times. This unexpected finding indicates that VSC does not substantially affect molecular electron density distributions, and in turn has profound implications for the possible mechanisms at play in polaritonic chemistry under VSC and suggests that the emergence of collective behavior is critical.

Cavity Catalysis of an Enantioselective Reaction under Vibrational Strong Coupling

Strong light-matter interaction is emerging as an exciting tool for controlling chemical reactions. Here, we demonstrate an L-proline-catalyzed direct asymmetric Aldol reaction under vibrational strong coupling. Both the reactants (4-nitrobenzaldehyde and acetone) carbonyl bands are coupled to an infrared photon and react in the presence of L-proline. The reaction mixture is eluted from the cavity, and the conversion yields and enantiomeric excess are quantified using NMR and chiral HPLC. The conversion yields increase by up to 90 % in ON-resonance conditions. Interestingly, a large increase in the conversion yield does not affect the enantiomeric excess. Further control experiments were carried out by varying the temperature, and we propose that the rate-limiting step may not be the deciding factor in enantioselectivity. Whereas the formation of the enamine intermediate is modified by cavity coupling experiments. For this class of enantioselective reactions, strong coupling does not change the enantiomeric excess, possibly due to the large energy difference in chiral transition states. Strong coupling can boost the formation of enamine intermediate, thereby favouring the product yield. This gives more hope to test polaritonic chemistry based on enantioselective reactions in which the branching ratios can be controlled.

Machine Learning for Polaritonic Chemistry: Accessing Chemical Kinetics

Altering chemical reactivity and material structure in confined optical environments is on the rise, and yet, a conclusive understanding of the microscopic mechanisms remains elusive. This originates mostly from the fact that accurately predicting vibrational and reactive dynamics for soluted ensembles of realistic molecules is no small endeavor, and adding (collective) strong light-matter interaction does not simplify matters. Here, we establish a framework based on a combination of machine learning (ML) models, trained using density-functional theory calculations and molecular dynamics to accelerate such simulations. We then apply this approach to evaluate strong coupling, changes in reaction rate constant, and their influence on enthalpy and entropy for the deprotection reaction of 1-phenyl-2-trimethylsilylacetylene, which has been studied previously both experimentally and using ab initio simulations. While we find qualitative agreement with critical experimental observations, especially with regard to the changes in kinetics, we also find differences in comparison with previous theoretical predictions. The features for which the ML-accelerated and ab initio simulations agree show the experimentally estimated kinetic behavior. Conflicting features indicate that a contribution of dynamic electronic polarization to the reaction process is more relevant than currently believed. Our work demonstrates the practical use of ML for polaritonic chemistry, discusses limitations of common approximations, and paves the way for a more holistic description of polaritonic chemistry.