We investigate a system consisting of a single, as well as two emitters
strongly coupled to surface plasmon modes of a nano-wire using a Green function
approach. Explicit expressions are derived for the spontaneous decay rate into
the plasmon modes and for the atom-plasmon coupling as well as a
plasmon-mediated atom-atom coupling. Phenomena due to the presence of losses in
the metal are discussed. In case of two atoms, we observe Dicke sub- and
superradiance resulting from their plasmon-mediated interaction. Based on this
phenomenon, we propose a scheme for a deterministic two-qubit quantum gate. We
also discuss a possible realization of interesting many-body Hamiltonians, such
as the spin-boson model, using strong emitter-plasmon coupling.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figure
