QED Chemistry for Real Systems (QEDChem)

• Applicant: Dr. Johannes Flick
• Subject Area: Theoretical Chemistry: Electronic Structure, Dynamics, Simulation ; Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2018 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 376886738

In recent years, research at the interface between chemistry and quantum optics has surged and now opens a new avenue for catalysis of chemical reactions. Experimentalists are now able to routinely realize light-matter coupling in the strong-coupling regime. In this regime, the original constituents of the system loose their individual identity and form hybrid quasi-particles of novel character. These hybridized states with mixed light-matter character can dramatically change the chemical landscape. In this new field, quantum electrodynamical (QED) chemistry, chemical reactions are performed in optical high-Q cavities.With this Research Fellowship, we will bring recently introduced first principle methods for strong light-matter coupled systems into reality. We will demonstrate the capabilities of quantum-electrodynamical density functional theory (QEDFT) and cavity Born-Oppenheimer (CBO) approximation for real systems. We will develop a practical computational scheme for the ab-initio description of chemical reactions under strong light-matter coupling.The outcome of this action will open a new research field for ab-initio studies of such systems to push the field of QED chemistry to a new level by providing the computational tool for groundbreaking predictions for chemical reactions in optical cavities.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professorin Dr. Prineha Narang