Polaritonic Chemistry - Coherent Quantum Control of Molecules with Modified Vacuum Fields

Resonant modification of Van der Waals interactions under vibrational strong coupling

4 May 2026, 15:50

30m

Albano 3: 4205 - SU Conference Room (40 seats) (Albano Building 3)

Invited Talk Monday Afternoon

Speaker

Marit Fiechter (ETH Zürich)

Description

Experiments have demonstrated that chemical properties, such as reaction rates and equilibrium constants, can be modified under vibrational strong coupling (VSC). However, the mechanism that facilitates this remains ill-understood.
In my talk, I will show how under VSC, Van der Waals interactions can be resonantly modified, and how collective effects and disorder come into play here. I will demonstrate that these VSC-modified Van der Waals interactions can lead to rate enhancement in a simple model system, and discuss the implications of these findings in relation to experiment.