Figure 3.
Cavity-enhanced photorelaxation mechanism of uracil. (a) Integrated S2 population during the uracil photorelaxation in the presence (yellow) and absence (blue) of a cavity. The total area estimates the probability to incur photodamage. (b) Best cavity conditions to optimize the speed-up η of the uracil photorelaxation, resulting in a more efficient photoprotection. (c) Motion of the WP center of mass. The background shows the S2 PES, while the black lines identify the seams of intersection between the states |S2, 0⟩ and |S0, 1⟩, for the optimal values Ωc = 2.8 eV and Ωc = 6.2 eV of the cavity frequencies. Transfer is maximized if the two states are resonant in the regions where the WP is slower. In general, the conditions leading to the most efficient photoprotection are given by a delicate interplay between cavity frequency, wavepacket velocity, and cavity lifetime.