Overlapping domains for topology optimization of large-area metasurfaces

We introduce an overlapping-domain approach to large-area metasurface design, in which each simulated domain consists of a unit cell and overlapping regions from the neighboring cells plus PML absorbers. We show that our approach generates greatly improved metalens quality compared to designs produced using a locally periodic approximation, thanks to ∼10× better accuracy with similar computational cost. We use the new approach with topology optimization to design large-area (200λ) high-NA (0.71) multichrome and broadband achromatic lenses with high focusing efficiency (∼50%), greatly improving upon previously reported works.