Empowering Metasurfaces with Inverse Design: Principles and Applications

Conventional human-driven methods face limitations in designing complex functional metasurfaces. Inverse design is poised to empower metasurface research by embracing fast-growing artificial intelligence. In recent years, many efforts have been devoted enriching inverse principles and applications. this perspective, we review most commonly used strategies including topology optimization, evolutionary machine learning techniques. We elaborate on their concepts working principles, as well examples of implementations. also discuss two emerging trends: scaling up for large-area aperiodic metasurfaces end-to-end that co-optimizes photonic hardware post-image processing. Furthermore, demonstrations inverse-designed showing great potential real-world applications are highlighted. Finally, challenges future advancement, suggest directions, outlook opportunities implementing nonlocal metasurfaces, reconfigurable quantum optics, nonlinear