Light-matter strong coupling: the holy grail of spin crossover ?

In this proposal, we will study spin-crossover (SCO) nano-cavities operating in the strong light-matter coupling regime. The grand objective is to explore the change of photophysical properties of strongly coupled SCO molecules in optical cavities through the formation of polaritons. We hope to provide robust proof for the role of polaritons in modifying the relaxation pathways of coupled molecules, by characterizing the polariton-enhanced transition yields, excited-state lifetimes, coherent and dissipative phenomena leading to relaxation. While optical methods precluded clear-cut quantitative analysis of such hybrid system, the currently available SCO nano-cavities are amenable to element specific x-ray studies.