Bio: Dr. Eric Harper is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Air Force Research Laboratories (AFRL) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) in Dayton, Ohio as part of the Air Force Science and Technology Fellowship Program (STFP). He is a member of the Optical Theory Group (OTG), simulating optical metamaterials to optimize their design using scientific computing techniques. He earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Dayton (2011) and his M.S. (2014) and Ph.D. at the University of Michigan (2017).

Machine Accelerated Nano-targeted Inhomogenous Structures

The ability for nanoscale materials to control the propagation of light is well-known, both in biological systems and synthetic applications. However, the possible “solution-space” to search for nanoscale designs is near-infinite, requiring advanced computational techniques to optimize structures for targeted device performance. Here we consider a subset of the infinite design space, a simple bilayer structure of nanocylinders, to demonstrate the capabilities of machine learning to accelerate the design process. We compare the performance of human-driven optimization to a genetic algorithm based optimization routine. We also consider potential machine-learning tools to further accelerate the design of these structures.

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