We investigate a system consisting of a single, as well as two emitters strongly coupled to surface plasmon modes of a nanowire using a Green’s function approach. Explicit expressions are derived for the spontaneous decay rate into the plasmon modes and for the atom-plasmon coupling as well as a plasmon-mediated atom-atom coupling. Phenomena due to the presence of losses in the metal are discussed. In case of two atoms, we observe Dicke subradiance and superradiance resulting from their plasmon-mediated interaction. Based on this phenomenon, we propose a scheme for a deterministic two-qubit quantum gate. We also discuss a possible realization of interesting many-body Hamiltonians, such as the spin-boson model, using strong emitter-plasmon coupling.

• Received 16 February 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.82.075427