Jacopo Fregoni

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid | UAM · IFIMAC

The strong coupling between molecules and photons in resonant cavities offers a new toolbox to manipulate photochemical reactions. Although the quenching of photochemical reactions in the strong coupling regimen has been demonstrated before, their enhancement has proven to be more elusive. Here, by means of a state-of-the-art approach, we show how...

The strong coupling regime between confined light and organic molecules turned out to be promising in modifying both the ground state and the excited states properties. Under this peculiar condition, the electronic states of the molecule are mixed with the quantum states of light. The dynamical processes occurring on such hybrid states undergo seve...

We analyse how the photorelaxation dynamics of a molecule can be controlled by modifying its electromagnetic environment using a nanocavity mode. In particular, we consider the photorelaxation of the RNA nucleobase uracil, which is the natural mechanism to prevent photodamage. In our theoretical work, we identify the operative conditions in which s...

Plasmonic nanocavities enable the confinement of molecules and electromagnetic fields within nanometric volumes. As a consequence, the molecules experience a remarkably strong interaction with the electromagnetic field to such an extent that the quantum states of the system become hybrids between light and matter: polaritons. Here, we present a non...

Polaritonic chemistry exploits strong light-matter coupling between molecules and confined electromagnetic field modes to enable new chemical reactivities. In systems displaying this functionality, the choice of the cavity determines both the confinement of the electromagnetic field and the number of molecules that are involved in the process, wher...

We theoretically investigate the circular dichroism of a helicity-preserving Fabry-P\'erot cavity made of two dielectric metamirrors. The latter are designed to act, in a narrow frequency range, as efficient polarization cross-converters in transmission for one polarization, and almost perfect reflectors for the other polarization. The resulting ca...

We study coupling of merocyanine to aluminum nanoantennas in weak and strong interaction regimes. Experiments reveal modification of the molecular dynamics induced by the plasmons as verified by quantum modelling of the hybrid system.

Molecular polaritons are hybrid light-matter states that emerge when a molecular transition strongly interacts with photons in a resonator. At optical frequencies, this interaction unlocks a way to explore and control new chemical phenomena at the nanoscale. Achieving such a control at ultrafast timescales, however, is an outstanding challenge, as...

Polaritonic chemistry exploits strong light-matter coupling between molecules and confined electromagnetic field modes to enable new chemical reactivities. In systems displaying this functionality, the choice of the cavity determines both the confinement of the electromagnetic field and the number of molecules that are involved in the process. Whil...

Plasmonic nanocavities enable the confinement of molecules and electromagnetic fields within nano-metric volumes. As a consequence, the molecules experience a remarkably strong interaction with the electromagnetic field, to such an extent that the quantum states of the system become hybrids between light and matter: polaritons. Here we present a no...

The protein β2-microglobulin (β2-m) can aggregate in insoluble amyloid fibrils, which deposit in the skeletal muscle system of patients undergoing long-term haemodialysis. The molecular mechanisms of such amyloidogenesis are still not fully understood. A potential, although debated, triggering factor is the cis to trans isomerization of a specific...

The multidisciplinary nature of the research in molecular nanoplasmonics, i.e., the use of plasmonic nanostructures to enhance, control, orsuppress properties of molecules interacting with light, led to contributions from different theory communities over the years, with the aimof understanding, interpreting, and predicting the physical and chemica...

We analyze how the photorelaxation dynamics of a molecule can be controlled by modifying its electromagnetic environment using a nanocavity mode. In particular, we consider the photorelaxation of the RNA nucleobase uracil, which is the natural mechanism to prevent photodamage. In our theoretical work, we identify the operative conditions in which s...

The strong coupling between molecules and photons in resonant cavities offers a new toolbox to manipulate photochemical reactions. While the quenching of photochemical reactions in the strong coupling regime has been demonstrated before, their enhancement has proven to be more elusive. By means of a state-of-the-art approach, here we show how the \...

The formation of hybrid light-molecule states (polaritons) offers a new strategy to manipulate the photochemistry of molecules. To fully exploit its potential, one needs to build a toolbox of polaritonic phenomenologies that supplement those of standard photochemistry. By means of a state-of-the-art computational photochemistry approach extended to...