Inverse design method of power beam splitter based on particle swarm optimization and grayscale QR codes

Abstract

This article introduces the concept of gray-scale QR codes and combines it with the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to develop an inverse design method for silicon-based photonic devices. This approach significantly reduces the design cycle and increases design flexibility, leading to the successful development of four low-loss, high-bandwidth 1 × 2 power beam splitters. We use the three-dimensional (3D) finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method to design and simulate these beam splitters, with each device occupying a footprint of 2 μm × 2 μm. In the wavelength range from 1450 nm to 1650 nm, the average insertion loss (IL) of the four designed power beam splitters is 0.51 dB, 0.33 dB, 0.44 dB, and 0.72 dB, respectively. Additionally, this set of devices performs well in the C-band, demonstrating strong robustness and a compact structure, which indicates significant potential for applications in optical communication and information processing.