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

We measure the statistical distribution of the photonic local density of states in the near field of a semicontinuous 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 nonradiative decay channels at short distance. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America