Suppressing photochemical reactions with quantized light fields

Photoisomerization, i.e., a change of molecular structure after absorption of a photon, is one of the most fundamental photochemical processes. It can perform desirable functionality, e.g., as the primary photochemical event in human vision, where it stores electronic energy in the molecular structure, or for possible applications in solar energy storage and as memories, switches, and actuators; but it can also have detrimental effects, for example as an important damage pathway under solar irradiation of DNA, or as a limiting factor for the efficiency of organic solar cells. While photoisomerization can be avoided by shielding the system from light, this is of course not a viable pathway for approaches that rely on the interaction with external light (such as solar cells or solar energy storage). Here, we show that strong coupling of organic molecules to a confined light mode can be used to strongly suppress photoisomerization, and thus convert molecules that normally show fast photodegradation into photostable forms.