Interaction of Single Molecules With Metallic Nanoparticles

We theoretically investigate the interaction between a single molecule and a metallic nanoparticle (MNP). We develop a general quantum mechanical description for the calculation of the enhancement of radiative and nonradiative decay channels for a molecule situated in the near-field regime of the MNP. Using a boundary element method approach, we compute the scattering rates for several nanoparticle shapes. We also introduce an eigenmode expansion and quantization scheme for the surface plasmons, which allows us to analyze the scattering processes in simple physical terms. An intuitive explanation is given for the large quantum yield of quasi-1-D and quasi-2-D nanostructures. Finally, we briefly discuss resonant Forster energy transfer in presence of MNPs.