Fluctuations of the local density of states probe localized surface plasmons on disordered metal films

Phys Rev Lett. 2010 Oct 29;105(18):183901. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.183901. Epub 2010 Oct 25.

Abstract

We measure the statistical distribution of the local density of optical states (LDOS) on disordered semicontinuous metal films. We show that LDOS fluctuations exhibit a maximum in a regime where fractal clusters dominate the film surface. These large fluctuations are a signature of surface-plasmon localization on the nanometer scale.