Formulation for scalable optimization of microcavities via the frequency-averaged local density of states

Abstract

We present a technique for large-scale optimization of optical microcavities based on the frequency-averaged local density of states (LDOS), which circumvents computational difficulties posed by previous eigenproblem-based formulations and allows us to perform full topology optimization of three-dimensional (3d) leaky cavity modes. We present theoretical results for both 2d and fully 3d computations in which every pixel of the design pattern is a degree of freedom (“topology optimization”), e.g. for lithographic patterning of dielectric slabs in 3d. More importantly, we argue that such optimization techniques can be applied to design cavities for which (unlike silicon-slab single-mode cavities) hand designs are difficult or unavailable, and in particular we design minimal-volume multi-mode cavities (e.g. for nonlinear frequency-conversion applications).