Mechanisms of perfect absorption in nano-composite systems

Near-perfect absorption across the entire VIS based on metallic nano-composite materials was realized experimentally by Hedayati et.al. in 2011 and optimized based on simulations by Etrich et.al. in 2014. However, both works did not reveal the mechanisms that lead to broadband light absorption by a typically highly-reflective metal. Here we investigate the microscopic location of absorption and the origin of the strong resonance broadening compared to that of individual metal nano particles.