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Welcome to Quantum Light Matter Science (QLiMS) GROUP

We explore the properties of molecules/materials strongly coupled to light.

About us!

In our lab, we explore the properties of molecules and materials consisting of "light-matter hybrid states." We achieve the light-matter hybrid states by placing molecules/materials in Fabry-Perot cavities or substrates that can confine electromagnetic field. The half-light, half-matter character of the hybrid states can lead to interesting new molecule chemistry and physics. For instance, such quantum light-matter interaction can convert insulator polymers to good electrical conductors, suppress intermolecular interaction, etc. We combine molecular synthesis, nanofabrication, and spectroscopic techniques to understand the fundamentals of strongly coupled molecules to build next-generation devices based on quantum light-matter interactions.

News!

UPCOMING EVENT: We are pleased to announce the symposium on the topic "Polaritonics for next generation materials" at the 2026 Spring Meeting of the "European Materials Research Society (E-MRS)" held at the Convention & Exhibition Centre of Strasbourg (France), from May 25 to 29, 2026. The symposium is now open for abstract submission.

Congratulation to Adwitiya for her poster presentation at "International Winter School 'Frontiers in Materials Science' and Satellite Conference on Computer Simulations" organized at JNCASR, Bangalore, India.

Prof. Bert Meijer and Prof. Francesco Stellacci visited us at the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry (IPC), IISc, for a special Half-day symposium. During their visit, we had engaging scientific discussions on our ongoing research and emerging directions in the field.

We are delighted to share our Spotlight on Application Article, "Emergent Properties When Molecules Meet the Electromagnetic Vacuum Field", published in ACS Applied Optical Materials. The journal has distinguished this work as an Editor's choice, underscoring its impact on the emerging field of vacuum - molecule interactions.

We are pleased to share that Anoop Thomas has been honored with the "APA Young Scientist Award" at the "13th Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Conference (AOPC) 2025" held in Kochi, India.

Anoop Thomas giving a talk at the "13th Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Symposium (AOPS) 2025" in Kochi, India.

Kavya S Mony has received the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters Best Poster Award at "13th Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Conference" held in Kochi, India (22- 25 October, 2025). CongratulationsKavya S Mony.

Congratulations to Subha and Kavya for their poster presentation at "13th Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Conference, 2025" organized in Kochi, India. Their participation provided an excellent opportunity to discuss the ongoing work with the broader photochemistry community.

At the "13th Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Conference, 2025" in Kochi, we had a pleasant reunion with Prof K. George Thomas from IISER Thiruvananthapuram.

We are delighted to announce that Anoop Thomas was invited to speak at the 27th Solvay Conference on Chemistry, 2025 - "Exploring Frontiers in Chemistry"held in Brussels - one of the world's most distinguished scientific meetings. His talk focused on "Chemistry under confined spaces"; showcasing ongoing research from our group.

Our group had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Cyriaque Genet from University of Strasbourg, France. We engaged in comprehensive discussions with him on the ongoing research and future directions, and greatly appreciates his valuable insights.

Congratulation to Harsh and Adwitiya for their poster presentation at "The 9th Asian and Oceanian Spectroscopy Conference (AOSC-2025)" organized in Goa, India.

Anoop Thomas gave a talk at "The 9th Asian and Oceanian Spectroscopy Conference (AOSC-2025)" organized in Goa, India.

We are delighted by the visit of Prof. Jino George from IISER, Mohali to our lab and having an interactive discussion with the students.

We are pleased to share that Anoop Thomas was honored with the Best Teacher Award this year in recognition of his exceptional teaching methods and his ability to make Spectroscopy engaging and accessible, fostering active involvement and deep understanding among his students.

Checkout the new publication https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202503915

We welcome our newest member to the lab Najiya C K, she joined in August, 2025. She completed her integrated Master's in chemistry from Central university of Tamil Nadu, graduating with the Chancellor’s Endowment Gold Medal.

In our latest paper published in Angewandte Chemie (Manuscript link), we explore the effect of vibrational strong coupling of the ─OH stretching mode of the excited state proton transfer process. Our results reveal that the quantum yield of RO−emission and the ESPT rate constant improve by a factor of two under VSC, compared to the on-cavity, half-cavity, and off-resonance films. Our findings highlight the potential of VSC in controlling various types of chemical reactions that involve proton-transfer processes.

Kavya S Mony giving an oral presentation at SCOM5 Strong Coupling with Organic Molecules 2025 conference happened at University of Southern Denmark, Odense.

In our latest paper published in Nature Communications we show that electronic strong coupling can modify ground-state intermolecular interactions. Manuscript Link. Organic chromophores often self-assemble during device fabrication due to intermolecular interactions that can change their light-emitting characteristics. Our latest results show that electronic strong coupling modifies the ground state intermolecular interactions and subsequent emission properties without tweaking their chemical structure.

Subha Biswas has received the Nature Photonics Best Paper Award at "The 11th International Conference on Surface Plasmon Photonics - SPP11" held in Tokyo, Japan (19- 23rd May 2025). Congratulations Subha Biswas.