Single molecules probe local density of modes (LDOS) around photonic nanostructures.

According to Fermi's golden rule, the fluorescence decay rate is directly proportional to the projected local density of photonic modes (LDOS) at the molecule location. The relevant LDOS depends on the molecule orientation. In this paper, the direct measurement of the fluorescence lifetime near gold dot photonic structures is investigated and compared to calculated LDOS. Detailed analysis of the decay channels is presented on the basis of numerical simulations.