Polariton-induced Purcell effects via a reduced semiclassical electrodynamics approach

Abstract

Recent experiments have demonstrated that polariton formation provides a novel strategy for modifying local molecular processes when a large ensemble of molecules is confined within an optical cavity. Herein, a numerical strategy based on coupled Maxwell--Schrödinger equations is examined for simulating local molecular processes in a realistic cavity structure under collective strong coupling. In this approach, only a few molecules, referred to as quantum impurities, are treated quantum mechanically, while the remaining macroscopic molecular layer and the cavity structure are modeled using dielectric functions. When a single electronic two-level system embedded in a Lorentz medium is confined in a two-dimensional Bragg resonator, our numerical simulations reveal a polariton-induced Purcell effect: the radiative decay rate of the quantum impurity is significantly enhanced by the cavity when the impurity frequency matches the polariton frequency, while the rate can sometimes be greatly suppressed when the impurity is near resonance with the bulk molecules forming strong coupling. Additionally, this approach demonstrates that the cavity absorption of light exhibits Rabi-splitting-dependent suppression due to the inclusion of a realistic cavity structure. Our simulations also identify a fundamental limitation of this approach -- an inaccurate description of polariton dephasing rates into dark modes. This arises because the dark-mode degrees of freedom are not explicitly included when most molecules are modeled using simple dielectric functions. As the polariton-induced Purcell effect alters molecular radiative decay differently from the Purcell effect under weak coupling, this polariton-induced effect may facilitate understanding the origin of polariton-modified photochemistry under electronic strong coupling.

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