Automated Discovery of Coupled Mode Setups

TL;DR

This paper introduces AutoScatter, an automated algorithm that optimizes photonic and microwave scattering setups, reducing manual design effort and uncovering minimal resource configurations for desired functionalities.

Contribution

The work presents AutoScatter, a novel automated discovery algorithm that systematically finds minimal resource configurations for scattering devices in photonics and related fields.

Findings

AutoScatter successfully identifies minimal resource setups for various scattering behaviors.

The algorithm produces interpretable solutions and insights for device design.

Potential applications extend to photonics, microwaves, and optomechanics.

Abstract

In optics and photonics, a small number of building blocks, like resonators, waveguides, arbitrary couplings, and parametric interactions, allow the design of a broad variety of devices and functionalities, distinguished by their scattering properties. These include transducers, amplifiers, and nonreciprocal devices, like isolators or circulators. Usually, the design of such a system is handcrafted by an experienced scientist in a time-consuming process where it remains uncertain whether the simplest possibility has indeed been found. In our work, we develop the discovery algorithm AutoScatter [https://github.com/jlandgr/autoscatter] that automates this challenge. By optimizing the continuous and discrete system properties our automated search identifies the minimal resources required to realize the requested scattering behavior. In the spirit of artificial scientific discovery, it produces a complete list of interpretable solutions and leads to generalizable insights, as we illustrate in several examples. This opens the door towards automated discovery of scattering setups for photonics, microwaves and optomechanics, with possible future extensions to periodic structures, sensing, and electronic devices.