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 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.