Beam shaping using genetically optimized two-dimensional photonic crystals

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to shape laser beams into arbitrary profiles using genetically optimized two-dimensional photonic crystals with engineered defects, enabling precise control over beam profiles with minimal losses.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach combining photonic crystal engineering, complex-source beam analysis, and genetic algorithms for customizable beam shaping.

Findings

Successfully generated Hermite-Gauss beam profiles

Maintained low losses and high tolerance to input variations

Demonstrated flexibility in beam profile customization

Abstract

We propose the use of two-dimensional photonic crystals with engineered defects for the generation of an arbitrary-profile beam from a focused input beam. The cylindrical harmonics expansion of complex-source beams is derived and used to compute the scattered wavefunction of a 2D photonic crystal via the multiple scattering method. The beam shaping problem is then solved using a genetic algorithm. We illustrate our procedure by generating different orders of Hermite-Gauss profiles, while maintaining reasonable losses and tolerance to variations in the input beam and the slab refractive index.