  We propose a hybrid photonic-plasmonic resonant structure which consists of a
metal nanoparticle (MNP) and a whispering gallery mode (WGM) microcavity. It is
found that the hybrid mode enables a strong interaction between the light and
matter, and the single-atom cooperativity is enhanced by more than two orders
of magnitude compared to that in a bare WGM microcavity. This remarkable
improvement originates from two aspects: (1) the MNP offers a highly enhanced
local field in the vicinity of an emitter, and (2), surprisingly, the
high-\textit{Q} property of WGMs can be maintained in the presence of the MNP.
Thus the present system has great advantages over a single microcavity or a
single MNP, and holds great potential in quantum optics, nonlinear optics and
highly sensitive biosening.
