Excitation of atoms by single-photon pulses in the presence of surface plasmons
Jérémie Choquette, Karl-Peter Marzlin · Physical Review A · 2012
Plasmons on the surface of a metal increase the light intensity by several orders of magnitude. To quantify the consequences of this phenomenon in quantum processes, we calculate the excitation probability for atoms near the surface, which are excited by a single-photon pulse. Using quantum electrodynamics in the presence of absorbing dielectrics, we predict that nonradiative decay in the metal will limit the excitation probability to about one-half of the maximum that could be achieved in the absence of such losses.