Matrix Square Root Based Differentiable RCWA Implementation for High-Performance Parallel Computing

Journal Article (2026)
Author(s)

Frank Van der Ceelen (TU Delft - ImPhys/Witte group)

Yifeng Shao (TU Delft - ImPhys/Coene group)

Wim Coene (ASML, TU Delft - ImPhys/Coene group)

DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.2528/PIERC25091202 Final published version
More Info
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Publication Year
2026
Language
English
Journal title
Progress in Electromagnetics Research C
Volume number
163
Pages (from-to)
60-72
Downloads counter
13
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Abstract

Rigorous Coupled-Wave Analysis (RCWA) is a semi-analytical method, used to determine the optical response of nanostructures, such as meta-materials. Recently, the ability to combine RCWA with automatic differentiation for optical response optimization has been demonstrated. We seek to build upon this use by attempting to address RCWA’s poor performance on parallel computer architecture, stemming from the presence of an eigendecomposition. We do this by outlining an alteration of RCWA, which replaces the eigendecomposition with a matrix square root and matrix exponential evaluation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these matrix functions can be evaluated using algorithms which are both differentiable and readily evaluated in parallel. Finally, we show that replacing the eigendecomposition with these matrix functions resolves the bottleneck and paves the way for higher-accuracy parameter retrieval using RCWA approaching real-time performance, without compromising stability.