title: Far-field imaging of the electromagnetic local density of optical states.
abstract: We introduce a new experimental method to measure the local electromagnetic density of states (LDOS) by integrating the differential scattering cross section. The signal detected essentially reflects the intrinsic scattering response of the photonic structures and renders the partial LDOS dominated by evanescent modes. We give a theoretical understanding of the LDOS image formation and show a qualitative agreement between experimental images and theoretical maps. This approach can be practically applied to the direct measurement of an optical antenna's scattering efficiency and can provide valuable information for designing optimum structures utilized in radiative decay engineering.
authors.affiliation: Institut Carnot de Bourgogne, CNRS-UMR 5209, Université de Bourgogne, 21078 Dijon, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bouhelier
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Colas des Francs
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Legay
authors.forename: J-C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Weeber
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dereux