  Metal nanowires and nanoparticles that facilitate surface plasmons are of
contemporary interest in nanophotonics, thermoplasmonics and optoelectronics.
They facilitate not only subwavelength light propagation and localization
capabilities, but also provide an excellent platform for opto-thermal effects
confined to volumes down to the nanoscale. This brief review article aims to
provide an overview of a specific nanophotonic geometry: a plasmonic nanowire
coupled to a zero-dimensional nanostructure. We discuss the methods to prepare
such nano-architectures and review some interesting nanophotonic applications
that arise out of it. We conclude with a discussion on some emerging research
directions that can be facilitated by employing the coupled nanostructures.
