Elucidating energy transfer involved in spatial propagation of W(CO)6 based Molecular Vibrational Polaritons.

Molecular Vibrational Polariton (MVP), being a quasiparticle formed from strong coupling of vibrational mode and confined cavity EM mode, is reported to influence the molecular dynamics ranging from intermolecular energy transfer to chemical reactions. However, because of the large number of molecules coupled, 10⁷ to 10¹⁰, it has been theoretically challenging to accommodate such large systems to simulate the various processes, such as chemical reactivity. Here, we studied spatial propagation of W(CO)6-based MVP and used the interplay of dark mode and upper polariton energy transfer rates to determine number of molecules coupled. We found the number to be 10⁴, which is three orders of magnitude less than what is expected based on the concentration of the molecules.