Quantum optics with nanoscale surface plasmons

We discuss recent experiments involving a new, broadband approach for engineering photon-emitter interactions via subwavelength confinement of guided optical fields in metallic nanowires [1–2]. The tight confinement of guided excitations in these nanostructures, known as surface plasmons [3–5], results in large interactions between single photons and single optical emitters without the use of a cavity, which can further be manipulated using quantum optical techniques.