  We consider an ensemble of diatomic molecules resonantly coupled to an
optical cavity under strong coupling conditions at normal incidence.
Photodissociation dynamics is examined via direct numerical integration of the
coupled Maxwell-Schrodinger equations with molecular ro-vibrational degrees of
freedom explicitly taken into account. It is shown that the dissociation is
significantly affected (slowed down) when the system is driven at its
polaritonic frequencies. The observed effect is demonstrated to be of transient
nature and has no classical analog. An intuitive explanation of the
dissociation slowdown at polaritonic frequencies is proposed.
