Modifying Near Equilibrium Electronic Transport with Vacuum Fields

Tailoring interactions between material dipoles and vacuum fields through polariton formation has emerged in recent years as a forefront approach for altering chemical and physical processes, including reactivity and energy transport. A particularly enticing but largely elusive prospect is to control the ground state or near-equilibrium properties of matter, such as charge mobility and superconductivity, by modifying the frequency spectrum of vacuum fields. In this talk, we will discuss how well-tuned photonic cavities can strongly modify near-equilibrium electron-phonon interactions in materials. Using spatially resolved transient reflectance spectro-microscopy, we map the lifetimes, transport properties, and spectral evolution of charge carriers in organic semiconductors embedded in photonic cavities. We demonstrate strong polariton-induced suppression of small (Holstein) polaron formation, a process deemed highly detrimental for electronic transport. Our results suggest a general approach for suppressing disorder-induced charge localization, potentially enabling the widespread use of abundant, sustainable but disordered organic materials in high-mobility energy and information technologies.