  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.
