Adjoint-enabled optimization of optical devices based on coupled-mode equations

作者：Lefevre Yannick^*; Wahl Pierre; Vermeulen Nathalie; Thienpont Hugo

来源：Optics Express, 2014, 22(16): 19423.

DOI：10.1364/OE.22.019423

In this work, we propose a method for designing optical devices described by coupled-mode equations. Following a commonly applied optimization strategy, we combine gradient-based optimization algorithms with an adjoint sensitivity analysis of the coupled-mode equations to obtain an optimization scheme that can handle a large number of design parameters. To demonstrate this adjoint-enabled optimization method, we design a silicon-on-insulator Raman wavelength converter. As structure, we consider a waveguide constructed from a series of interconnected and adiabatically-varying linear tapers, and treat the width at each interconnection point, the waveguide length, and the pump-Stokes frequency difference as independent design parameters. Optimizing with respect to these 1603 parameters results in an improvement of more than 10 dB in the conversion efficiency for a waveguide length of 6.28 cm and frequency difference 187 GHz below the Raman shift as compared to a converter designed by the conventional phase-matching design rule and operating at perfect Raman resonance. The increase in conversion efficiency is also accompanied by a more than 7 dB-improvement in the Stokes amplification. Hence, the adjoint-enabled optimization allows us to identify a more efficient method for achieving Raman conversion than conventional phase-matching. We also show that adjoint-enabled optimization significantly improves design robustness. In case of the Raman converter example, this leads to a sensitivity with respect to local variations in waveguide width that is several orders of magnitude smaller for the optimized design than for the phase-matched one.

• 出版日期2014-8-11