Dressed states of a quantum emitter strongly coupled to a metal nanoparticle

Hybrid molecule-plasmonic nanostructures have demonstrated their potential for surface enhanced spectroscopies, sensing, or quantum control at the nanoscale. In this Letter, we investigate the strong coupling regime and explicitly describe the hybridization between the localized plasmons of a metal nanoparticle and the excited state of a quantum emitter, offering a simple and precise understanding of the energy exchange in full analogy with cavity quantum electrodynamics treatment and a dressed atom picture. Both near-field emission and far-field radiation are discussed, revealing the richness of such optical nanosources. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America