Controlling and Probing Molecular Polaritons

The goal of this chapter is to accelerate the ability of research groups to contribute quickly, accurately, and substantively, to the field of cavity-modified materials behaviors. The opportunity to tune fundamental chemical and physical properties with an engineered optical environment has inspired images of designer cavity-catalysis, enhanced energy technologies, and directed bio-assembly. Although numerous demonstrations of cavity-modified chemistry have been made, hesitancy remains due to a lack of mechanistic understanding, experimentally precarious results, and the general enigmatic character of this phenomenon. In fact, corroborating results have been met with doubt by even close colleagues. However, just as error bars are slowly shaved away, measurement by measurement, to eventually reveal the sought-after truth, so too must we continue to evaluate cavity-induced effects, troubleshooting and improving experimental techniques, refining analytical tools, and listening to and addressing legitimate criticism.