Wei Xiong

Recognized for:
Establishing the experimental foundations of polariton chemistry and engineering photonic cavities to provide better control over chemical reactions.

Areas of Research Interest and Expertise:
Ultrafast spectroscopy, photonics, photochemistry, light-matter interactions, imaging  

Previous Positions:

BSc, Chemistry, Peking University, China
PhD, Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison (Advisor: Martin T. Zanni)
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Colorado Boulder (Advisor: Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn)
Assistant Professor, University of California San Diego
Associate Professor, University of California San Diego

Research Summary:

Selectively controlling chemical reactions is of the utmost importance in a variety of processes, both scientific and industrial. When molecules are placed in mirrored cavities, their vibrations can couple with strong fields of light and form a hybrid state of matter called a polariton. Work done by Wei Xiong, PhD, has shown that these polaritons offer a fundamentally different route of selective chemical control over the molecular reaction rates and energy transfer. By establishing the foundation of this new field of chemistry, Xiong opens alternative pathways for control over chemical processes for impactful advances in chemical synthesis and energy generation.

Key Publications:

1. B. Xiang, R. F. Ribeiro, A. D. Dunkelberger, J. Wang, Y. Li, B. S. Simpkins, J. C. Owrutsky, J. Yuen-Zhou, W. Xiong, Two-dimensional Infrared Spectroscopy of Vibrational Polaritons, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2018.
2. B. Xiang, R.F. Ribeiro, M. Du, L. Chen, Z. Yang, J. Wang, J. Yuen-Zhou, W. Xiong, Intermolecular Vibrational Energy Transfer Enabled by Microcaity Strong Light-Matter Coupling, Science, 2020.
3. T. Chen, M. Du, Z. Yang, J. Yuen-Zhou, W. Xiong, Cavity-Enabled Enhancement of Ultrafast Intramolecular Vibrational Redistribution over Pseudorotation, Science, 2022.
4. Z. Yang, H.H. Bhakta, W. Xiong, Enabling Multiple Intercavity Polariton Coherences by Adding Quantum Confinements to Cavity Molecular Polaritons, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2022.  

Other Honors:

2024 National Brown Investigator Award, Brown Research Foundation
2024 AAAS Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
2023 Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
2023 Coblentz Award, Coblentz Society
2020 Sloan Research Fellow, Alfred Sloan Research Foundation
2019 ACS JPC/PHYS Lectureship Award, ACS PHYS division
2019 NSF CAREER Award, National Science Foundation
2016 AFOSR Young Investigator Program Award, Air Force Office of Scientific Research
2015 DARPA Young Faculty Award, DARPA

In the Media:

Caltech – Caltech Announces Eight Recipients of the 2024 National Brown Investigator Award

Spectroscopy Online – Polaritons and What They Can Do: Talking With 2023 Coblentz Award Winner Wei Xiong

AIP Publishing – The emerging field of molecular vibrational polaritons in synthetic chemistry

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – Polaritons in modified Fabry–Perot cavities and entanglement

Science – Using mirrors to control molecular dynamics

Chemistry World – Molecular shapeshifting observed at ultrafast speeds