Cavity-modulated ionization potentials and electron affinities from quantum electrodynamics coupled-cluster theory

Abstract

Quantum electrodynamics coupled-cluster (QED-CC) theory is used to model vacuum-field-induced changes to ground-state properties of a series of sodium halide compounds (NaX, X = F, Cl, Br, I) strongly coupled to an optical cavity. Ionization potentials (IPs) and electron affinities (EAs) are presented, and it is demonstrated that EAs are easily modulated by cavity interactions, while IPs for these compounds are far less sensitive to the presence of the cavity. EAs predicted by QED-CC can be reduced by as much 0.22 eV (or ~50%) when considering experimentally-accessible coupling parameters.