Resonance fluorescence of a two-level quantum emitter near a plasmonic nanoparticle: role of the near-field polarization

It is demonstrated that the interaction of a two-level quantum emitter (atom, molecule, etc) with a plasmonic nanoparticle (prolate nanospheroid) in an external laser field features either an essential increase (up to a few orders of magnitude) or reduction (up to a few times) of the total decay rate of the emitter in specific areas around the nanoparticle in contrast to its decay rate in a vacuum. It is also shown that the resonance fluorescence spectrum of the emitter in close proximity to a plasmonic nanoparticle is very sensitive to both the location of the emitter around the nanoparticle and to polarization of the near-field, which depends in turn on the polarization of the incident laser field. This can be used in engineering potential quantum optics experiments with quantum emitters in the near-field, as well as for 3D nanoscopy of the near-field by registering the resonance fluorescence spectra of quantum emitters scattered in the vicinity of a plasmonic nanoparticle. (paper)