Neural Adjoint Method for Meta-optics: Accelerating Volumetric Inverse Design via Fourier Neural Operators
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866908978215124992 |
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| author | Kang, Chanik Suk, Hyewon Chung, Haejun |
| author_facet | Kang, Chanik Suk, Hyewon Chung, Haejun |
| contents | Meta-optics promises compact, high-performance imaging and color routing. However, designing high-performance structures is a high-dimensional optimization problem: mapping a desired optical output back to a physical 3D structure requires solving computationally expensive Maxwell's equations iteratively. Even with adjoint optimization, broadband design can require thousands of Maxwell solves, making industrial-scale optimization slow and costly. To overcome this challenge, we propose the Neural Adjoint Method, a solver-supervised surrogate that predicts 3D adjoint gradient fields from a voxelized permittivity volume using a Fourier Neural Operator (FNO). By learning the dense, per-voxel sensitivity field that drives gradient-based updates, our method can replace per-iteration adjoint solves with fast predictions, greatly reducing the computational cost of full-wave simulations required during iterative refinement. To better preserve sensitivity peaks, we introduce a stage-wise FNO that progressively refines residual errors with increasing emphasis on higher-frequency components. We curate a meta-optics dataset from paired forward/adjoint FDTD simulations and evaluate it across three tasks: spectral sorting (color routers), achromatic focusing (metalenses), and waveguide mode conversion. Our method reduces design time from hours to seconds. These results suggest a practical route toward fast, large-scale volumetric meta-optical design enabled by AI-accelerated scientific computing. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_17425 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Neural Adjoint Method for Meta-optics: Accelerating Volumetric Inverse Design via Fourier Neural Operators Kang, Chanik Suk, Hyewon Chung, Haejun Machine Learning Optics Meta-optics promises compact, high-performance imaging and color routing. However, designing high-performance structures is a high-dimensional optimization problem: mapping a desired optical output back to a physical 3D structure requires solving computationally expensive Maxwell's equations iteratively. Even with adjoint optimization, broadband design can require thousands of Maxwell solves, making industrial-scale optimization slow and costly. To overcome this challenge, we propose the Neural Adjoint Method, a solver-supervised surrogate that predicts 3D adjoint gradient fields from a voxelized permittivity volume using a Fourier Neural Operator (FNO). By learning the dense, per-voxel sensitivity field that drives gradient-based updates, our method can replace per-iteration adjoint solves with fast predictions, greatly reducing the computational cost of full-wave simulations required during iterative refinement. To better preserve sensitivity peaks, we introduce a stage-wise FNO that progressively refines residual errors with increasing emphasis on higher-frequency components. We curate a meta-optics dataset from paired forward/adjoint FDTD simulations and evaluate it across three tasks: spectral sorting (color routers), achromatic focusing (metalenses), and waveguide mode conversion. Our method reduces design time from hours to seconds. These results suggest a practical route toward fast, large-scale volumetric meta-optical design enabled by AI-accelerated scientific computing. |
| title | Neural Adjoint Method for Meta-optics: Accelerating Volumetric Inverse Design via Fourier Neural Operators |
| topic | Machine Learning Optics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.17425 |