Quantum plasmonics: a nanoscale interface between photons and atoms

We discuss recent theoretical and experimental developments towards a new, broadband approach for engineering photon-emitter interactions via subwavelength confinement of optical fields near metallic nanostructures. The tight confinement of guided excitations in these nanostructures, known as ``surface plasmons'', 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. We report on recent experimental work demonstrating strong coupling between an individual CdSe quantum dot and a single surface plasmon in a proximal nanowire. Prospects towards single-photon nonlinear optics in such systems and robust, nanoscale atomic traps using surface plasmons are also discussed.