Inverse design of novel nanophotonic structures

We report on the design of ultra-wide bandwidth novel passive devices based on photonic crystal (PC) technology for efficiently performing the essential functionalities required by any future photonic integrated circuit (PIC). We utilize various heuristic optimization methods as an inverse design (ID) engine for achieving promising PC systems that outperform previous topologies based on intuition. We also present the application of these techniques for attaining a global optimum solutions. PC topologies proposed throughout this manuscript are constrained in order to fulfill the limitations imposed by lithographic manufacturing techniques. Therefore, these designs are not only interesting from a theoretical point of view but also of great practical importance, since they can be readily manufactured.