Collective strong coupling in a plasmonic nanocavity

Abstract: Quantum plasmonics extends cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED) concepts to the nanoscale, taking benefit from the strongly subwavelength confinement of the plasmon modes supported by metal nanostructures. In this work, we describe in detail collective strong coupling to a plasmonic nanocavity. Similarities and differences to cQED are emphasized. We notably observe that the Rabi splitting can strongly deviate from the standard $\sqrt{N_e}\Delta \Omega_1$ law, where $N_e$ is the number of emitters and $\Delta \Omega_1$ the Rabi splitting for a single emitter. In addition, we discuss the collective Lamb shift and the role of quantum corrections to the emission spectra.