Abstract
We used a genetic algorithm in the design and optimisation of optical thin films and present the effects of the choice of variables, refractive index and optical thickness, in both applications of this algorithm, in this paper. The Fourier transform optical thin film design method was used to create a starting population, which was later optimised by the genetic algorithm. In the genetic algorithm design application, the effect of the choice of variable was not distinct, as it depended on the type of design specification. In the genetic algorithm optimisation application, the choice of refractive index as a variable showed a better performance than that of optical thickness. The results of this study indicate that a genetic algorithm is more effective in the design application than in the optimisation application of optical thin film synthesis.
Highlights
The subject of designing optical thin films has been abundantly researched over two decades and a number of design and optimisation methods in thin film synthesis have been developed.[1,2,3] A genetic algorithm has mainly been used as an optimisation tool, rather than as a designing tool, in applications other than optical thin films
We present the effect of the choice of variables in genetic algorithm design and optimisation application by considering a reflector design as an example, before comparing several genetic algorithm applications
The genetic algorithm was used to optimise the same kind of reflector, with a rejection band in the range of 0.88182 μm – 1.0879 μm, designed by Fourier transform
Summary
The subject of designing optical thin films has been abundantly researched over two decades and a number of design and optimisation methods in thin film synthesis have been developed.[1,2,3] A genetic algorithm has mainly been used as an optimisation tool, rather than as a designing tool, in applications other than optical thin films. The effect of the choice of variables in genetic algorithm design and optimisation applications is very interesting to investigate because of the change in performance of the genetic algorithm, according to the choice of the variable of the thin film; different optical thin film parameters taken as a variable result in a different quality of the final design and optimisation solution. A number of variables from the optical properties of thin films can be considered in this regard, but, in this study, only the refractive index and optical thickness were considered. The effect of using the refractive index or optical thickness as a variable is discussed by studying the performance difference between the final design and the desired design
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