Inverse design of high-performance silicon photonics devices using anisotropic SWG metamaterials

Subwavelength Grating (SWG) metamaterials are periodic structures that enable precise control over the properties of electromagnetic waves propagating through them. Over the past two decades, photonic designers have leveraged this capability to demonstrate high-performance devices on silicon photonics chips. More recently novel SWG structures have been developed to engineer metamaterial anisotropy, enhancing performance and expanding the design space, but also increasing design complexity. This invited talk discusses our latest progress using inverse design algorithms together with advanced homogenization models of SWG metamaterials to demonstrate complex photonic devices with exceptional performance.