Vibrational and electronic strong light-matter coupling with molecular excitations

Abstract

This thesis is devoted to the investigation of polaritons supported by organic microcavities. Two distinct types of such states are present in these systems, namely, exciton-polaritons and vibro-polaritons, formed upon hybridization of molecular excitations with optical and mid-infrared photons respectively. We provide fundamental explorations of both scenarios, by employing models of increased complexity that are tractable in the framework of quantum optics and quasi-exact methods in condensed matter physics. Our results demonstrate the crucial role of the molecular environment and phonons in determining the steady-state linear spectra, the internal structure and the short-time dynamics of organic polaritons.