Active control of polariton-enabled long-range energy transfer

Optical control is achieved on the excited state energy transfer between spatially separated donor and acceptor molecules, both coupled to the same optical mode of a cavity. The energy transfer occurs through the formed hybrid polaritons and can be switched on and off by means of ultraviolet and visible light. The control mechanism relies on a photochromic component used as donor, whose absorption and emission properties can be varied reversibly through light irradiation, whereas in-cavity hybridization with acceptors through polariton states enables a 6-fold enhancement of acceptor/donor contribution to the emission intensity with respect to a reference multilayer. These results pave the way for synthesizing effective gating systems for the transport of energy by light, relevant for light-harvesting and light-emitting devices, and for photovoltaic cells.