product: MIRaGE

Man-made, optical metamaterials have been touted for more than a decade for their ability to manipulate light in extraordinary ways.

MIRaGE simplifies and automates the design process for materials that would be necessary for those technologies.

Mirage is a group theory-based multiscale simulation toolkit that enables the inverse design of metamaterials exhibiting exotic electromagnetic behaviors beyond the limits of conventional optics. Technological developments enabled by Mirage could include lighter-weight satellites, cloaking devices, and compact aberration-free imaging systems.

SIMPLIFIED SOLUTION SPACE – Other software can simulate what meta-atoms will do to light, but that only allows researchers to use intuition to experiment with different designs until they stumble upon or tediously work out the behavior they want. MIRaGE uses an inverse design approach. Starting with the desired behavior you can immediately reduce your design space.

MANIPULATE LIGHT IN EXTRAORDINARY WAYS – Describe the result you want, and the software fills in the steps to get there. This modern design approach takes the guesswork out of engineering as-yet theoretical technologies like ultra-compact, high-performance cameras, and cloaking armor that could make wearers invisible to detection.

STREAMLINED LIGHT MATTER INTERACTION – The resonant EM response of “molecules” to a probing EM-Field is a combination of “linear” and “rotational” vibrations. The allowed (active) normal modes are completely governed by the 3D spatial symmetry of the molecule. Thus by inspecting the symmetry of a molecule, we can have a priory knowledge of how a molecule will respond to an EM field!

INTUITIVE DESIGN TOOLS FOR THE NOVICE TO EXPERT – MIRaGE allows users varying degrees of interaction based on user knowledge and experience. In Expert Mode, the tool is unconstrained and allows the user to deep dive into any problem sets. Guided and Templated build modules take some of the guesswork out and allow novice users a quick way to be productive. MIRaGE also adds a clip art like tool called the Meta-Atom Library for plug and play designs.

LEADING EDGE SIMULATION TOOLS FOR IMMEDIATE ANSWERS – MIRaGE offers an extensive set of design tools and aids. These help the user get the desired behavior and design quickly, enabling users to go from theory to functional design in hours, not weeks.

EXTENSIVE ANALYSIS TOOLS – How good is good? MIRaGE gives the users a wide array of analysis tools, from 2/3D charts, fast volumetric plotting, and intuitive data processing to quantitatively and qualitatively answer that question.

OPTIMIZATION – To further refine your design, MIRaGE incorporates the DAKOTA optimization package that allows you to start running optimizations with few mouse clicks. The MIRaGE tool includes canned objective functions and example scripts to help users hit the ground running.

SHAPE AND TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION * – MIRaGE has the capability of engaging Shape and Topology Optimizations through the integration of the ROL software package. MIRaGE and ROL allow users to review solutions of optimal geometric design, feature control as well as investigate inverse problems.

* Included in MIRaGE Elite only