Abstract
Inverse design represents a paradigm shift in the development of nanophotonic devices, where optimal geometries and materials are discovered by an algorithm rather than symmetry considerations or intuition. Here we present a very general formulation of inverse design that is applicable to atomic interactions in external environments, and derive from this some explicit formulae for optimisation of spontaneous decay rates, Casimir–Polder forces and resonant energy transfer. Using Purcell enhancement of the latter as a simple example, we employ finite-difference time-domain techniques in a proof-of-principle demonstration of our formula, finding enhancement of the rate many orders of magnitude larger than a selection of traditional designs.
Highlights
Traditional design methods work by specifying a device, investigating its properties
We present a very general formulation of inverse design that is applicable to atomic interactions in external environments, and derive from this some explicit formulae for optimisation of spontaneous decay rates, Casimir–Polder forces and resonant energy transfer
In this article we have presented a convenient and system-agnostic version of adjoint optimisation of electromagnetism based entirely on the electromagnetic dyadic Green’s tensor
Summary
Keywords: inverse design, macroscopic QED, resonance energy transfer, adjoint optimisation Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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