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Chemistry in Optical Nano Cavities: Designing Photonic Reagents and Light-Matter Materials

Project description

Advancing the ability to control chemical reactions in optical nanocavities

Recent advances in cavity quantum electrodynamics have enabled scientists to leverage the quantum properties of light to drive chemical reactions. In particular, recent experiments have demonstrated the ability to utilise the vacuum field of an optical nanoresonator to significantly modify the potential energy landscape and therefore its photochemical properties. The molecular and the photonic degrees of freedom are heavily mixed in the coupled light–matter system – a phenomenon that is well understood at the atomic but not at the molecular scale. Leveraging the nuclear degrees of freedom could help modify the reaction pathways, enabling the engineering of new types of light-driven catalysts. The EU-funded CONICALM project will develop advanced numerical simulation tools to gain deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms at the molecular scale.

Objective

"Gaining detailed control over chemical reactions has always been a chemists dream. Quantum coherent control has been pursuing this dream by using specially tailored light fields to control chemical reactions on an atomistic level. With the advancement of cavity quantum electrodynamics and its recent application to molecules, using the quantum properties of light to control photo-chemistry has come into reach. Recent, ground breaking experiments have show that one can utilize the vacuum field of an optical nano-resonator to significantly modify the potential energy landscape and thus its photo-chemistry. The underlying effect is the formation of so called ""dressed states"", which are created when the quantized radiation field mode couples to a molecular electronic transition. In the resulting coupled light-matter system the molecular and the photonic degrees of freedom are heavily mixed. While this effect is well understood for atomic samples, it is not yet fully understood for molecules. The introduction of the nuclear degrees of freedom requires new theoretical frameworks. This effect can be used to modify reaction pathways of chemical and photo-chemical reactions. This opens a wide range of possibilities to engineer novel types of light driven catalysts. The major objectives of this proposal are to advance the theoretical understanding of the underlying mechanisms, to build a suitable tool chest for numerical simulations, to use the insight and tools to propose new photo-chemical applications, and to close the gap between theory and experiment. We will theoretically investigate possibilities to optimize organic solar cells, and the photo catalytic schemes for environmentally relevant molecules."

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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ERC-STG - Starting Grant

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2019-STG

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Host institution

STOCKHOLMS UNIVERSITET
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 480 750,00
Address
UNIVERSITETSVAGEN 10
10691 Stockholm
Sweden

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Region
Östra Sverige Stockholm Stockholms län
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 480 750,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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