Topological nanophotonics and artificial neural networks

We propose the use of artificial neural networks to design and characterize photonic topological insulators. As a hallmark, the band structures of these systems show the key feature of the emergence of edge states, with energies lying within the energy gap of the bulk materials and localized at the boundary between regions of distinct topological invariants. We consider different structures such as one-dimensional photonic crystals, [Formula: see text]-symmetric chains and cylindrical systems and show how, through a machine learning application, one can identify the parameters of a complex topological insulator to obtain protected edge states at target frequencies. We show how artificial neural networks can be used to solve the long-standing quest for a solution to inverse problems solution and apply this to the cutting edge topic of topological nanophotonics.