Silicon nano-photonics: where the photons meet the electrons

It has become apparent that silicon technology can provide many of the requirements for nanophotonic integration, including many of the common discrete optoelectronic components. Some of these components are based on photonic crystal designs, but generally electromagnetic design becomes the main research requirement in nano-photonics. The question has always been what is the exact structure that should be fabricated? The era of purely intuitive design may be obsolete. We must now concentrate more on design software, rational design, and the numerical solution of inverse problems. There are a number of inverse algorithms, including genetic algorithms, the error-propagation method, and simulated annealing that can contribute to future progress in nanophotonic design.