Hour: 12:00h
Place: Seminar Room
SEMINAR: Molecules in a Quantum-Optical Flask
Abstract:
When confined to small dimensions, the interaction between light and matter can be enhanced up to the point where it overcomes all the incoherent, dissipative processes. In this "strong coupling" regime the photons and the material start to behave as a single entity, having its own quantum states and energy levels.
In this talk I will present the fundamental physics of strong coupling in hybrid photonic-molecular structures, and how such cavity-QED effects can be employed for controlling material properties and molecular processes. This includes, for example, photochemical reactions [1], the enhancement of transport in organic semiconductors [2-3] and potentially tailoring the mesoscopic properties of organic crystals, by hybridizing intermolecular vibrations with electromagnetic THz fields [4-5].
[1] J. A. Hutchison, T. Schwartz, C. Genet, E. Devaux, and T. W. Ebbesen, "Modifying Chemical Landscapes by Coupling to Vacuum Fields," Angew. Chemie Int. Ed. 51, 1592–1596 (2012).
[2] G. G. Rozenman, K. Akulov, A. Golombek, and T. Schwartz, "Long-Range Transport of Organic Exciton-Polaritons Revealed by Ultrafast Microscopy," ACS Photonics 5, 105–110 (2018).
[3] M. Balasubrahmaniyam, A. Simkovich, A. Golombek, G. Ankonina, and T. Schwartz, "From enhanced diffusion to ultrafast ballistic motion of hybrid light–matter excitations," Nat. Mater. 22, 338–344 (2023).
[4] R. Damari, O. Weinberg, D. Krotkov, N. Demina, K. Akulov, A. Golombek, T. Schwartz, and S. Fleischer, "Strong coupling of collective intermolecular vibrations in organic materials at terahertz frequencies," Nat. Commun. 10, 3248 (2019).
[5] M. Kaeek, R. Damari, M. Roth, S. Fleischer, and T. Schwartz, "Strong Coupling in a Self-Coupled Terahertz Photonic Crystal," ACS Photonics 8, 1881–1888 (2021).
Bio:
Dr. Tal Schwartz received his PhD in 2008 for his research on stochastic nonlinear dynamics and Anderson localization of light under the supervision of Prof. Moti Segev. He then moved to France for his postdoctoral studies at the Laboratory for Nanostructures led by Prof. Thomas Ebbesen at Strasbourg University under a Rothschild Fellowship.
In 2012 he joined Tel Aviv University as a senior lecturer at the Physical Chemistry Department, where he is leading the laboratory for molecular nano-optics, studying the interaction of light with organic molecules in nanostructures, primarily in the strong coupling regime.
Hour: 12:00h
Place: Seminar Room
SEMINAR: Molecules in a Quantum-Optical Flask
Abstract:
When confined to small dimensions, the interaction between light and matter can be enhanced up to the point where it overcomes all the incoherent, dissipative processes. In this "strong coupling" regime the photons and the material start to behave as a single entity, having its own quantum states and energy levels.
In this talk I will present the fundamental physics of strong coupling in hybrid photonic-molecular structures, and how such cavity-QED effects can be employed for controlling material properties and molecular processes. This includes, for example, photochemical reactions [1], the enhancement of transport in organic semiconductors [2-3] and potentially tailoring the mesoscopic properties of organic crystals, by hybridizing intermolecular vibrations with electromagnetic THz fields [4-5].
[1] J. A. Hutchison, T. Schwartz, C. Genet, E. Devaux, and T. W. Ebbesen, "Modifying Chemical Landscapes by Coupling to Vacuum Fields," Angew. Chemie Int. Ed. 51, 1592–1596 (2012).
[2] G. G. Rozenman, K. Akulov, A. Golombek, and T. Schwartz, "Long-Range Transport of Organic Exciton-Polaritons Revealed by Ultrafast Microscopy," ACS Photonics 5, 105–110 (2018).
[3] M. Balasubrahmaniyam, A. Simkovich, A. Golombek, G. Ankonina, and T. Schwartz, "From enhanced diffusion to ultrafast ballistic motion of hybrid light–matter excitations," Nat. Mater. 22, 338–344 (2023).
[4] R. Damari, O. Weinberg, D. Krotkov, N. Demina, K. Akulov, A. Golombek, T. Schwartz, and S. Fleischer, "Strong coupling of collective intermolecular vibrations in organic materials at terahertz frequencies," Nat. Commun. 10, 3248 (2019).
[5] M. Kaeek, R. Damari, M. Roth, S. Fleischer, and T. Schwartz, "Strong Coupling in a Self-Coupled Terahertz Photonic Crystal," ACS Photonics 8, 1881–1888 (2021).
Bio:
Dr. Tal Schwartz received his PhD in 2008 for his research on stochastic nonlinear dynamics and Anderson localization of light under the supervision of Prof. Moti Segev. He then moved to France for his postdoctoral studies at the Laboratory for Nanostructures led by Prof. Thomas Ebbesen at Strasbourg University under a Rothschild Fellowship.
In 2012 he joined Tel Aviv University as a senior lecturer at the Physical Chemistry Department, where he is leading the laboratory for molecular nano-optics, studying the interaction of light with organic molecules in nanostructures, primarily in the strong coupling regime.