Research Bits: July 28

Inverse design of photonics Researchers from Harvard University and the Max Planck Institute designed silicon nitride photonic components that are 500 times smaller than conventional designs by using an inverse-design algorithm. “Inverse design lets us define what we want light to do, and the optimization finds a structure that does it, often one no human would have drawn,” said Toby Bi, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute, in a press release. “What is exciting is that the same framework ca