Optical absorption by small metallic particles

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Abstract
We study theoretically the dependence of absorption by small metallic particles on particle shape and wave polarization in the IR frequency range. We examine the electric and magnetic absorption by small particles. The particles may be either larger or smaller than the electron mean free path. We show that for asymmetric particles smaller than the mean free path the light-induced conductivity is a tensor. We also show that the total absorption and the electric-to-magnetic absorption ratio are strongly dependent on particle shape and wave polarization. Finally, we construct curves representing the dependence of the ratio of the electric and magnetic contributions to absorption on the degree of particle asymmetry for different wave polarizations. Similar curves are constructed for the ratio of the components of the light-induced conductivity tensor.