Inverse design of plasma metamaterial devices with realistic elements

In an expansion of a previous study (Rodriguez et al 2021 Phys. Rev. Appl. 16 014023), we apply inverse design methods to produce two-dimensional plasma metamaterial devices with realistic plasma elements which incorporate quartz envelopes, collisionality (loss), non-uniform density profiles, and resistance to experimental error/perturbation. Finite difference frequency domain simulations are used along with forward-mode differentiation to design waveguides and demultiplexers operating under the transverse magnetic polarization. Optimal devices with realistic elements are compared to previous devices with idealized elements, and several parameter initialization schemes for the optimization algorithm are explored, yielding a robust procedure for producing such devices. Demultiplexing and waveguiding are demonstrated for microwave-regime devices composed of plasma elements with reasonable space-averaged plasma frequencies similar to 10 GHz and a collision frequency similar to 1 GHz, allowing for future in-situ training and experimental realization of these designs.