Molecular dynamics under strong light-matter coupling

Strong light-matter interactions can be engineered by placing brightly-absorbing molecules in the confined electromagnetic field of an optical cavity. Molecules under such strong cavity coupling appear to demonstrate distinct reactivity from molecules in free space, but the mechanisms and scope of these phenomena remain poorly understood. The field is in need of new approaches to directly read out the impact of cavity coupling on the dynamics of simple benchmark molecules. I will discuss our ongoing work to examine ultrafast chemistry and photophysics under both vibrational and electronic strong coupling. I will also detail the various routes we have established to track the dynamics of these species without confounding spectroscopic artifacts, and comment on when we need to invoke quantum optics versus classical cavity physics to explain our observations.