We present experimental evidence for the different mechanisms driving the
fluctuations of the local density of states (LDOS) in disordered photonic
systems. We establish a clear link between the microscopic structure of the
material and the frequency correlation function of LDOS accessed by a
near-field hyperspectral imaging technique. We show, in particular, that short-
and long-range frequency correlations of LDOS are controlled by different
physical processes (multiple or single scattering processes, respectively) that
can be---to some extent---manipulated independently. We also demonstrate that
the single scattering contribution to LDOS fluctuations is sensitive to
subwavelength features of the material and, in particular, to the correlation
length of its dielectric function. Our work paves a way towards a complete
control of statistical properties of disordered photonic systems, allowing for
designing materials with predefined correlations of LDOS.Comment: 5+9 pages, 5+6 figures. Fixed confusion of references between the
main text and the supplemental material in version