Search

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy is a powerful and versatile sensing method with a detection limit down to the single molecule level. In this article, we demonstrate how topology optimization (TopOpt) can be used for designing surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates adhering to realistic fabrication constraints. As an example, we experimentally demonstrated a SERS enhancement factor of 5*10e4 for the 604 cm-1 Raman line of rhodamine 6G using metal nanostructures with a critical dimension of 20 nm. We then show that, by relaxing the fabrication constraints, TopOpt may be used to design SERS substrates with orders of magnitude larger enhancement factor. The results validate topology optimization as an effective method for engineering nanostructures with optimal performance and fabrication tolerance., 12 pages

We demonstrate new axisymmetric inverse-design techniques that can solve problems radically different from traditional lenses, including \emph{reconfigurable} lenses (that shift a multi-frequency focal spot in response to refractive-index changes) and {\emph{widely separated}} multi-wavelength lenses ($\lambda = 1\,\mu$m and $10\,\mu$m). We also present experimental validation for an axisymmetric inverse-designed monochrome lens in the near-infrared fabricated via two-photon polymerization. Axisymmetry allows fullwave Maxwell solvers to be scaled up to structures hundreds or even thousands of wavelengths in diameter before requiring domain-decomposition approximations, while multilayer topology optimization with $\sim 10^5$ degrees of freedom can tackle challenging design problems even when restricted to axisymmetric structures., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures

The preliminary study reported here investigates if unit-cell inclusion-symmetries may be broken in time-reversalinvariant topological insulator designs, while maintaining the desired global behaviour of pseudo-spin-dependent edge state based bi-directional, back-scattering robust, energy propagation. By allowing symmetries to be broken additional geometrical design freedom is attained, which may turn out to enable an improvement of various performance measures such as bandwidth and field confinement. The particular study considers a time-reversal-invariant acoustic topological insulator design, designed using a modified version of our recently proposed topology optimization based method for designing photonic and acoustic topological insulators.1 This method relies on a carefully constructed model system combined with the application of density based topology optimization to design two carefully interfaced crystal phases to maximize the flow of energy through the system. Through simple modifications of the method, we demonstrate that it is possible to design structures with different symmetry conditions from those that have previously been investigated using the method.

Designing photonic topological insulators is highly non-trivial because it requires inversion of band symmetries around the band gap, which was so far done using intuition combined with meticulous trial and error. Here we take a completely different approach: we consider the design of photonic topological insulators as an inverse design problem and use topology optimization to maximize the transmission through an edge mode with a sharp bend. Two design domains composed of two different, but initially identical, C$_\text{6v}$-symmetric unit cells define the geometrical design problem. Remarkably, the optimization results in a photonic topological insulator reminiscent of the shrink-and-grow approach to quantum-spin-Hall photonic topological insulators but with notable differences in the topology of the crystal as well as qualitatively different band structures and with significantly improved performance as gauged by the band-gap sizes, which are at least 50 \% larger than previous designs. Furthermore, we find a directional beta factor exceeding 99 \%, and very low losses for sharp bends. Our approach allows for the introduction of fabrication limitations by design and opens an avenue towards designing PTIs with hitherto unexplored symmetry constraints., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures

Upconversion of sub-band-gap photons constitutes a promising way for improving the efficiency of silicon-based solar cells beyond the Shockley-Queisser limit. 1500 to 980 nm upconversion by trivalent erbium ions is well-suited for this purpose, but the small absorption cross section hinders real-world applications. We employ tailored gold nanostructures to vastly improve the upconversion efficiency in erbium-doped TiO$_2$ thin films. The nanostructures are found using topology optimization and parameter optimization and fabricated by electron beam lithography. In qualitative agreement with a theoretical model, the samples show substantial electric-field enhancements inside the upconverting films for excitation at 1500 nm for both s- and p-polarization under a wide range of incidence angles and excitation intensities. An unprecedented upconversion enhancement of 913(51) is observed at an excitation intensity of 1.7 Wcm$^{-2}$. We derive a semi-empirical expression for the photonically enhanced upconversion efficiency, valid for all excitation intensities. This allows us to determine the upconversion properties needed to achieve significant improvements in real-world solar-cell devices through photonic-enhanced upconversion., Comment: 9 pages (main text), 4 figures, 1 supporting information of 15 pages

We show that topology optimization (TO) of metallic resonators can lead to $\sim 10^2\times$ improvement in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) efficiency compared to traditional resonant structures such as bowtie antennas. TO inverse design leads to surprising structures very different from conventional designs, which simultaneously optimize focusing of the incident wave and emission from the Raman dipole. We consider isolated metallic particles as well as more complicated configurations such as periodic surfaces or resonators coupled to dielectric waveguides, and the benefits of TO are even greater in the latter case. Our results are motivated by recent rigorous upper bounds to Raman scattering enhancement, and shed light on the extent to which these bounds are achievable., Comment: 19 pages

A new method for dose regularization in optimization-based proximity-effect-correction is proposed. In contrast to the commonly adopted approach of adding penalty terms to the objective function, a modified scheme is demonstrated where dose regularization is achieved via filtering and projection techniques. The resulting dose patterns are simple and two-toned, and can thus readily be applied in production. Furthermore, existing extensions developed in the context of topology optimization that build on top of the filtering framework, such as robust optimization and strict length scale control, can be adopted directly. The validity of the scheme is assessed in experiments, where the resolvable feature size of the considered 30 kV electron-beam lithography system is decreased from around 100 nm to a few tens of nm. A Python implementation of the scheme is made freely available.

Small manufacturing-tolerant photonic crystal cavities are systematically designed using topology optimization to enhance the ratio between the quality factor and mode volume, Q/V. For relaxed manufacturing tolerance, a cavity with a bow-tie shape is obtained which confines light beyond the diffraction limit into a deep-subwavelength volume. Imposition of a small manufacturing tolerance still results in efficient designs, however, with diffraction-limited confinement. Inspired by numerical results, an elliptic ring grating cavity concept is extracted via geometric fitting. Numerical evaluations demonstrate that for small sizes, topology-optimized cavities enhance the Q/V-ratio by up to two orders of magnitude relative to standard L1 cavities and more than one order of magnitude relative to shape-optimized L1 cavities. An increase in cavity size can enhance the Q/V-ratio by an increase in the Q-factor without a significant increase in V. Comparison between optimized and reference cavities illustrates that significant reduction of V requires big topological changes in the cavity.

This paper describes a systematic design study of periodic gold-nanostrip arrays placed on a thin film aimed at enhancing the electric field inside the film when irradiated by light. Based on the study, a "selection rule" is proposed, which provides optimization-based design methods with an a priori choice between field-enhancement dominated by coupling to guided modes, by plasmonic near-field enhancement or by a mix hereof. An appropriate choice of wavelength and grating period is shown to selectively suppress or include waveguiding effects for the optimized designs. The validity of the selection rule is demonstrated through a numerical topology optimization study in which gold nanostrips are optimized for electric-field enhancement in an erbium-doped TiO2 thin film, targeting increased spectral upconversion in the erbium ions. The obtained designs exhibit waveguide excitation within the predicted intervals and, for light polarized perpendicularly to the strips, plasmonic response outside.

Spectral conversion of the sunlight has been proposed as a method for enhancing the efficiency of photovoltaicvdevices, which are limited in current production by the mismatch between the solar spectrum and the wavelength range for efficient carrier generation. For example, the photo current can be increased by conversion of two low-energy photons (below the band gap of the absorber) to one higher-energy photon (i.e. upconversion). In this paper, we will review our ongoing activities aimed at enhancing such spectral-conversion processes by employing appropriately designed plasmonic nanoparticles. The nanoparticles serve as light-concentrating elements in order to enhance the non-linear upconversion process. From the theoretical side, we approach the optimization of nanoparticles by finite-element modelling of the plasmonic near fields in combination with topological optimization of the particle geometries. Experimentally, the nanostructures are formed by electronbeam lithography on thin films of Er3+-containing transparent materials, foremost TiO2 made by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering, and layers of chemically synthesized NaYF4 nanoparticles. The properties of theupconverter are measured using a variety of optical methods, including time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy on erbium transitions and spectrally resolved upconversion-yield measurements at ∼1500-nm-light excitation.The calculated near-field enhancements are validated using a technique of near-field-enhanced ablation by tunable, ultrashort laser pulses.

This Letter reports on the experimental validation of a two-dimensional acoustic hyperbolic metamaterial slab optimized to exhibit negative refractive behavior. The slab was designed using a topology optimization based systematic design method allowing for tailoring the refractive behavior. The experimental results confirm the predicted refractive capability as well as the predicted transmission at an interface. The study simultaneously provides an estimate of the attenuation inside the slab stemming from the boundary layer effects—insight which can be utilized in the further design of the metamaterial slabs. The capability of tailoring the refractive behavior opens possibilities for different applications. For instance, a slab exhibiting zero refraction across a wide angular range is capable of funneling acoustic energy through it, while a material exhibiting the negative refractive behavior across a wide angular range provides lensing and collimating capabilities.

This letter presents a topology optimization study of metal nanostructures optimized for electric-field enhancement in the infrared spectrum. Coupling of such nanostructures with suitable ions allows for an increased photon-upconversion yield, with one application being an increased solar-cell efficiency by exploiting the long-wavelength part of the solar spectrum. In this work, topology optimization is used to design a periodic array of two-dimensional gold nanostrips for electric-field enhancements in a thin film doped with upconverting erbium ions. The infrared absorption band of erbium is utilized by simultaneously optimizing for two polarizations, up to three wavelengths, and three incident angles. Geometric robustness towards manufacturing variations is implemented considering three different design realizations simultaneously in the optimization. The polarization-averaged field enhancement for each design is evaluated over an 80 nm wavelength range and a ±15-degree incident angle span. The highest polarization-averaged field enhancement is 42.2 varying by maximally 2% under ±5 nm near-uniform design perturbations at three different wavelengths (1480 nm, 1520 nm, and 1560 nm). The proposed method is generally applicable to many optical systems and is therefore not limited to enhancing photon upconversion.

We consider the design of individual and periodic arrangements of metal or semiconductor nanoparticles for localized electromagnetic field enhancement utilizing a topology optimization based numerical framework as the design tool. We aim at maximizing a function of the electromagnetic field amplitude in a region of space through the introduction of nanoparticles in and/or near the region.