LAUSR

We develop a theory for spontaneous decay of a quantum emitter (QE) situated near metal-dielectric structure supporting localized surface plasmons. If plasmon resonance is tuned close to the QE emission frequency, the emission is enhanced due to energy transfer from QE to localized plasmon mode followed by photon emission by plasmonic antenna. The emission rate is determined by intimate interplay between plasmon coupling to the radiation field and Ohmic losses in the metal. Here we extend our plasmon Green function approach [PRL 117, 207401 (2016)] to include plasmon interaction with the radiation field and obtain explicit expressions for radiative decay rate and optical polarizability of a localized plasmon mode. Within this approach, we provide consistent definition of plasmon mode volume by relating it to the plasmon mode density, which characterizes plasmon field localization, and recover the standard cavity form of the Purcell factor, but now for plasmonic systems. We show that, for QE placed at "hot spot" near sharp tip of metal nanostructure, the plasmon mode volume scales with the metal volume while being very sensitive to the distance from the tip. Finally, we derive the enhancement factor for radiated power spectrum for any nanoplasmonic system and relate it to the Purcell factor for spontaneous decay rate. We illustrate our results by numerical example of a QE situated near gold nanorod tip.