Plasmonic Purcell factor and coupling efficiency to surface plasmons. Implications for addressing and controlling optical nanosources

The Purcell factor F p is a key quantity in cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED) that quantifies the coupling rate between a dipolar emitter and a cavity mode. Its simple form ${F}_{{\rm{p}}}\propto Q/V$ unravels the possible strategies to enhance and control light–matter interaction. Practically, efficient light–matter interaction is achieved thanks to either (i) high quality factor Q at the basis of cQED or (ii) low modal volume V at the basis of nanophotonics and plasmonics. In the last decade, strong efforts have been done to derive a plasmonic Purcell factor in order to transpose cQED concepts to the nanocale, in a scale-law approach. In this work, we discuss the plasmonic Purcell factor for both delocalized (SPP) and localized (LSP) surface-plasmon-polaritons and briefly summarize the expected applications for nanophotonics. On the basis of the SPP resonance shape (Lorentzian or Fano profile), we derive closed form expression for the coupling rate to delocalized plasmons. The quality factor factor and modal confinement of both SPP and LSP are quantified, demonstrating their strongly subwavelength behavior.