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A nanofabrication process for realizing optical nanoantennas carved from a single-crystal gold plate is presented in this communication. The method relies on synthesizing two-dimensional micron-size gold crystals followed by the dry etching of a desired antenna layout. The fabrication of single-crystal optical nanoantennas with standard electron-beam lithography tool and dry etching reactor represents an alternative technological solution to focused ion beam milling of the objects. The process is exemplified by engineering nanorod antennas. Dark-field spectroscopy indicates that optical antennas produced from single crystal flakes have reduced localized surface plasmon resonance losses compared to amorphous designs of similar shape. The present process is easily applicable to other metals such as silver or copper and offers a design flexibility not found in crystalline particles synthesized by colloidal chemistry.

We construct mode-selective effective models describing the interaction of N quantum emitters (QEs) with the localised surface plasmon polaritons (LSPs) supported by a spherical metal nanoparticle (MNP) in an arbitrary geometric arrangement of the QEs. We develop a general formulation in which the field response in the presence of the nanosystem can be decomposed into orthogonal modes with the spherical symmetry as an example. We apply the model in the context of quantum information, investigating on the possibility of using the LSPs as mediators of an efficient control of population transfer between two QEs. We show that a Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage configuration allows such a transfer via a decoherence-free dark state when the QEs are located on the same side of the MNP and very closed to it, whereas the transfer is blocked when the emitters are positioned at the opposite sides of the MNP. We explain this blockade by the destructive superposition of all the interacting plasmonic modes.

Experimental observation of light coupling between ${\mathrm{TiO}}_{2}$ integrated waveguides of subwavelength cross section and pure three-dimensional evanescent light fields is reported. This near-field optical phenomenon is produced by controlling the location of the focusing of a laser beam totally reflected at the surface of the sample. The phenomenon is observed in direct space with a photon scanning tunneling microscope. Dielectric ridges several tens of micrometers long have been efficiently excited with this technique. Upon excitation, the extremities of the linear dielectric wires display intense light spots localized both inside and around the ridge. For ridge lengths up to $30\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m},$ the observed phenomenon has been reproduced numerically with a parallel implementation based on the three-dimensional Green dyadic method.

The Green dyadic formalism is applied to the study of the optical properties of dielectric subwavelength structures integrated in coplanar geometry. We first consider homogeneous wires with high refractive index featuring subwavelength cross sections. We show that such wires may have guiding properties and that they may be coupled with a local illumination produced by a focused Gaussian beam totally reflected at the substrate interface. When excited by the focused beam, these subwavelength optical waveguides (SOW's) provide a confined source of light that could be used to excite a single nanoscopic object. Well designed heteregeneous wires resulting from the alignment of dielectric particles separated from each other by a subwavelength distance are also found to propagate a Gaussian beam excitation over several micrometers. This propagation occurs with reasonable damping for incident beams in the visible frequency range. The computed transmission spectra of these heterowires may exhibit narrow gaps. Finally, we discuss the relation between the optical properties of the SOW and the calculated electromagnetic local density of states.

Molecular fluorescence decay is significantly modified when the emitting molecule is located near a plasmonic structure. When the lateral sizes of such structures are reduced to nanometer-scale cross sections, they can be used to accurately control and amplify the emission rate. In this Rapid Communication, we extend Green's dyadic method to quantitatively investigate both radiative and nonradiative decay channels experienced by a single fluorescent molecule confined in an adjustable dielectric-metal nanogap. The technique produces data in excellent agreement with current experimental work.