Control of Physical and Chemical Processes with Nonlocal Metal–Dielectric Environments

Abstract

In this Perspective, we make the case that (meta) material platforms that were originally designed to control the propagation of light can affect scores of physical and chemical phenomena, which are often thought to lie outside of the traditional electrodynamics domain. We show that nonlocal metal-dielectric environments, which can be as simple as metal−dielectric interfaces, can control spontaneous and stimulated emission, Forster energy transfer, wetting contact angle, and rates of chemical reactions. The affected phenomena can occur in both strong and weak coupling regimes and the large coupling strength seems to enhance the effects of nonlocal environments. This intriguing field of study has experienced a rapid growth over the past decade and many exciting discoveries and applications are expected in the years to come.

Thermodynamics of ultrastrongly coupled light-matter systems

“…This means that major modifications of ground-state chemical reactions or cavity-induced shifts of ferroelectric phase transitions cannot be simply explained by a strong collective coupling to a single quantized mode. To identify the detailed origin of such effects further experimental and theoretical investigations are still required, in particular also on the influence of the metallic boundaries on electrostatic interactions [33,42,53,69] and other modifications of the background EM environment [15].…”

“…This assumption breaks down in the so-called ultrastrong coupling (USC) regime [1,2,3], where the interaction energy can be comparable to the bare energy of the photons. Such conditions can be reached in solid-state [4,5,6,7,8,9,10] and molecular cavity QED experiments [11,12,13,14,15], where modifications of chemical reactions [16,17] or phase transitions [18] have been observed and interpreted as vacuum-induced changes of thermodynamic potentials [19]. Together with the ability to realize even stronger couplings between artificial superconducting atoms and microwave photons [20,21,22,23,24], these observations have led to a growing interest [2,3] in the ground and thermal states of light-matter systems under conditions where the coupling between the individual parts can no longer be neglected.…”

Thermodynamics of ultrastrongly coupled light-matter systems

“…This assumption breaks down in the so-called ultrastrong coupling (USC) regime [1][2][3], where the interaction energy can be comparable to the bare energy of the photons. Such conditions can be reached in solid-state [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and molecular cavity QED experiments [11][12][13][14][15], where modifications of chemical reactions [16,17] or phase transitions [18] have been observed and interpreted as vacuum-induced changes of thermodynamic potentials [19]. Together with the ability to realize even stronger couplings between artificial superconducting atoms and microwave photons [20][21][22][23][24], these observations have led to a growing interest [2,3] in the ground and thermal states of light-matter systems under conditions where the coupling between the individual parts can no longer be neglected.…”

Optical-field driven charge-transfer modulations near composite nanostructures

“…Actively controlling the time scale over which charge separation and recombination occur is critical especially in the solid state, which is relevant to most optoelectronic devices and circuitry. To open the path toward light-based technologies with remotely tunable charge-transfer dynamics, the underlaying cause of relevant phenomena [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] need to be both identified and rationalized.…”

“…Anisotropic to flat nanostructures can be designed with materials ranging from 2D to alternating layers of metal, dielectric or semiconductor of selected permittivity [18][19][20][21][22][23][24] . Metal-oxide multilayer composite nanostructures (CNSs) provide non-local environments, which are attracting attention 25 , as they were shown to affect luminescence [26][27][28][29][30] , photodegradation 31 , and wetting properties 32 , as well as to slow down charge transfer dynamics (CTD) in donor:acceptor (D:A) systems 33 . Charge transfer processes are fundamental steps impacting on biology and photosynthesis 34 , chemistry 35,36 , as well as electronics 37,38 .…”