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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Extraordinary Electrical Conductance of Non-conducting Polymers Under Vibrational Strong Coupling

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Achieving vibrational mode selectivity to control molecular properties is a challenging task that has become greatly facilitated by vibrational strong coupling. Here we show that strongly coupling the vibrational transitions of polystyrene (PS) and poly (benzyl-methacrylate) (PBMA) to the vacuum electromagnetic field of the cavity enhances the electrical conductance by several orders of magnitude. Remarkably, the extraordinary enhancement of electrical conductance in PS is mode-selective to the vibrational strong coupling (VSC) of the aromatic ring out-of-plane bending transitions corresponding to B2 symmetry. The delocalized hybrid light-matter states formed under VSC could promote extended vibronic coherence, enhancing the electrical conductance. These experiments are done without any light excitation, demonstrating the role of electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations in controlling the long-range coherent transport in molecular materials.