ND Energy Faculty Luncheon Seminars are held monthly with interested faculty to facilitate cross-disciplinary research collaborations and to enable development of proposal ideas for upcoming funding opportunities. All interested faculty from diverse fields are invited to attend.

The discussion topic for this luncheon will be centered around a presentation by Prof. Hsing-Ta (Theta) Chen titled "Collective Excitations Under Strong Light-Matter Coupling."

This 35-40 minute talk will be followed by discussion with Prof. Chen focused on (1) cross-disciplinary basic research needs, (2) potential avenues for external and internal collaborations, (3) funding sources to target, and if everyone is agreeable, (4) 'follow-up actions' that we can track. With all the faculty engaging in the discussion part of this luncheon after the talk, we expect to have a very stimulating and inspiring exchange of ideas.

For more information on the ND Energy Faculty Luncheon Seminars, contact Subhash L. Shinde at sshinde@nd.edu.

Abstract

When electrons in molecules and materials interact strongly with confined electromagnetic fields, such as nanoplasmonic modes and microcavity photons, the coherent response of electrons develops collective excitation within the molecular system. The cooperative nature of the excited electrons leads to intriguing phenomena that are fundamentally different from conventional photoexcitation and have applications ranging from boosting radiation emission (superradiance laser), and mobilizing electronic motions (exciton-polariton transport), to modifying chemical reactions (polaritonic chemistry). Despite recent development, understanding collective excitation remains challenging from theory and simulation perspectives. I will talk about our recent efforts in modeling superradiance and cavity effects in a disordered system and our future endeavors of developing a theoretical toolbox for simulating collective excitation in materials. 

Biography

Hsing-Ta (Theta) Chen is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame. He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics at Columbia University and postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on developing theoretical methods and applying simulation techniques to investigate quantum dynamical processes in complex environments, ranging from non-adiabatic molecular dynamics in the condensed phase to semiclassical treatments for strong light-matter interactions.