Title: Changing Chemistry and Materials in the Dark
Abstract: In electromagnetic environments with structure, such as in optical cavities, the interaction between light and matter can become strong even in the dark. Recent experiments in this regime, that interfaces quantum optics, material science and chemistry, have demonstrated changes in material properties by strongly coupling the electronic structure of the material to the quantum fluctuations of the light field. To simulate this regime, different ab initio electronic structure methods have been extended, now treating electrons and photons on the same quantized footing.
In this talk, I will give an overview on recent experimental and theoretical developments in this field. This discussion includes the search for computationally efficient density-functionals for quantum-electrodynamical density functional theory, pathways to improve their accuracy, as well as applications to cavity modified chemical reactivity.