Polaritonic ultracold reactions: cavity controlled molecular photoassociation

Abstract: We introduce a prototypical model for cavity polaritonic control of ultracold photochemistry by considering the resonant vibrational strong coupling of a rubidium dimer to a terahertz cavity. We demonstrate that at avoided crossings between a vibrational excitation and the vacuum photon absorption, the resulting polaritonic states between the molecule and photons can efficiently control the molecular vibrational Franck-Condon (FC) factors. Due to the entanglement between light and matter, FC factor is transferred from one polaritonic branch to other, leading to a polariton with a substantially enhanced FC factor. Utilizing this polariton state for photoassociation results in the enhanced formation of ultracold molecules. This work suggests a path to controlling photoassociation with cavity vacuum fields, and lays the ground for the emerging subfield of polaritonic ultracold chemistry.