  We propose a method that enables strong, coherent coupling between individual
optical emitters and electromagnetic excitations in conducting nano-structures.
The excitations are optical plasmons that can be localized to sub-wavelength
dimensions. Under realistic conditions, the tight confinement causes optical
emission to be almost entirely directed into the propagating plasmon modes via
a mechanism analogous to cavity quantum electrodynamics. We first illustrate
this result for the case of a nanowire, before considering the optimized
geometry of a nanotip. We describe an application of this technique involving
efficient single-photon generation on demand, in which the plasmons are
efficiently out-coupled to a dielectric waveguide. Finally we analyze the
effects of increased scattering due to surface roughness on these
nano-structures.
