Optical determination of vacuum Rabi splitting in a semiconductor quantum dot induced by a metal nanoparticle

We propose a theoretical scheme to determine the vacuum Rabi splitting in a single semiconductor quantum dot (SQD) induced by a metal nanoparticle (MNP). Based on cavity quantum electrodynamics, the exciton-plasmon interaction between the SQD and the MNP is considered while a strong pump laser and a weak probe laser are simultaneously presented. By decreasing the distance between them, we can increase the coupling strength. At resonance, thanks to the strong coupling, a vacuum Rabi splitting can be observed clearly in the probe absorption spectrum. The coupling strength can be obtained by measuring the vacuum Rabi splitting. This strong coupling is significant for the investigation of surface-plasmon-based quantum information processing.