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Resonance energy transfer near metal nanostructures mediated by surface plasmons

We develop a unified theory of plasmon-assisted resonance energy transfer (RET) between molecules near a metal nanostructure that maintains energy balance between transfer, dissipation, and radiation. We show that in a wide range of parameters, including in the near field, RET is dominated by plasmon-enhanced radiative transfer (PERT) rather than by a nonradiative transfer mechanism. Our numerical calculations performed for molecules near the Ag nanoparticle indicate that RET magnitude is highly sensitive to molecules' positions.