Broadband photonic crystal waveguide 60 degrees bend obtained utilizing topology optimization.

Topology optimization has been used to design a 60 degrees bend in a single-mode planar photonic crystal waveguide. The design has been realized in a silicon-on-insulator material and we demonstrate a record-breaking 200-nm transmission bandwidth with an average bend loss of 0.43+/-0.27 dB for the TE polarization. The experimental results agree well with 3D finite-difference-time-domain simulations.