Perfect absorbers based on metal-insulator-metal structures in the visible region: a simple approach for practical applications

Perfect absorbers based on metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structures are proposed and demonstrated, both theoretically and experimentally, in the visible region. The proposed structures may possess either sharp or broadband absorption peaks, by simply choosing a single layer of the proposed MIM structure or building several layers of them, while no nanofabrication steps or structure patterning are required, and thus can be easily made to cover a large area. The highly efficient absorption of the MIM structures is maintained for both TE and TM incident polarization, and for angles of incidence up to 75 degrees, indicating that the proposed perfect absorbers can be potentially deployed for solar cells applications and optics.