Distance dependence of the local density of states in the near field of a disordered plasmonic film

TL;DR

This study investigates how the local density of states in the near field of a disordered gold film varies with distance, highlighting the role of confined modes and non-radiative decay channels through experimental and numerical analysis.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the distance dependence of the local density of states in disordered plasmonic films using combined experimental and simulation approaches.

Findings

Near-field confined modes significantly affect the LDOS distribution width.

Non-radiative decay channels become prominent at short distances.

Numerical simulations agree well with experimental results.

Abstract

We measure the statistical distribution of the photonic local density of states in the near field of a semi-continuous gold film. By varying the distance between the measurement plane and the film, we show that near-field confined modes play a major role in the width of the distribution. Numerical simulations in good agreement with experiments allow us to point out the influence of non-radiative decay channels at short distance.