Inverse design of photonic devices parameterized using geometric primitives

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by one or more processors of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform actions for designing a physical device, the actions comprising:

• generating, by the computing system, an initial design based on a design specification, wherein the initial design includes a list of geometric shape primitives;
• determining, by the computing system, a set of structural parameters using the list of geometric shape primitives;
• simulating, by the computing system, performance of the initial design using the set of structural parameters to determine a performance loss value;
• and
• updating, by the computing system, at least one of a size or a location of at least one of the geometric shape primitives using a gradient of the performance loss value.