Light scattering and photon statistics of quantum emitters coupled to metallic nanoparticles

Abstract

We study theoretically the quantum optical properties of hybrid artificial molecules composed of an individual quantum emitter and a metallic nanoparticle.  The coupling between the two systems can give rise to a Fano interference effect which strongly influences the quantum statistical properties of the scattered photons: a small frequency shift of the incident light field may cause changes in the intensity correlation function of the scattered field of orders of magnitude. The system opens a good perspective for applications in active metamaterials and ultracompact single-photon devices. We also demonstrate with accurate scattering calculations that a system constituted by a single quantum emitter (a semiconductor quantum dot) placed in the gap between two metallic nanoparticles can display the vacuum Rabi splitting.