Manipulating Attosecond Charge Migration in Molecules by Optical Cavities
Yonghao Gu, Bing Gu, Shichao Sun, Haiwang Yong, Vladimir Chernyak, Shaul Mukamel
Abstract
The ultrafast electronic charge dynamics in molecules upon photoionization while the nuclear motions are frozen is known as charge migration. In a theoretical study of the quantum dynamics of photoionized 5-bromo-1-pentene, we show that the charge migration process can be induced and enhanced by placing the molecule in an optical cavity, and can be monitored by time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. The collective nature of the polaritonic charge migration process is investigated. We find that, unlike spectroscopy, molecular charge dynamics in a cavity is local and does not show many-molecule collective effects. The same conclusion applies to cavity polaritonic chemistry.