VortexChat: An agentic framework for autonomous multi-objective integrated photonic design

arXiv cs.AI Papers

Summary

VortexChat is an LLM-based agentic framework that automates the inverse design of integrated photonic devices from natural language specifications, demonstrated by autonomously fabricating a terahertz multiplexer with high performance.

arXiv:2608.20688v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: The advancement of modern integrated photonics is frequently bottlenecked by device design workflows that rely heavily on manual simulation and expert intuition. While inverse design offers an alternative, it remains constrained by expert supervision and a lack of end-to-end automation. To address these issues, we present VortexChat, an agentic framework for the autonomous, end-to-end inverse design of integrated photonic devices directly from natural language specifications. VortexChat couples a large language model (LLM) decision agent with topology generation, gradient-based refinement, and full-wave electromagnetic simulation. This closed-loop architecture enables the system to iteratively decompose design objectives, orchestrate computational tools, and update strategies based on feedback with minimal human intervention. Constrained by the absolute metrics of the Vortex100 Benchmark, VortexChat autonomously generates devices that strictly meet all predefined performance thresholds without any human-in-the-loop. As an experimental demonstration, we fabricated a broadband terahertz perfect vortex beam multiplexer, autonomously designed by VortexChat, with measurements confirming high-efficiency operation, high mode purity and low inter-channel crosstalk in agreement with full-wave simulations. These results demonstrate that an LLM agent can assume key aspects of expert decision-making in photonic inverse design while maintaining physical fidelity and fabrication feasibility, providing a scalable route towards autonomous design of complex integrated photonic systems.
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# VortexChat: An agentic framework for autonomous multi-objective integrated photonic design
Source: [https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.20688](https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.20688)
[View PDF](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2608.20688)

> Abstract:The advancement of modern integrated photonics is frequently bottlenecked by device design workflows that rely heavily on manual simulation and expert intuition\. While inverse design offers an alternative, it remains constrained by expert supervision and a lack of end\-to\-end automation\. To address these issues, we present VortexChat, an agentic framework for the autonomous, end\-to\-end inverse design of integrated photonic devices directly from natural language specifications\. VortexChat couples a large language model \(LLM\) decision agent with topology generation, gradient\-based refinement, and full\-wave electromagnetic simulation\. This closed\-loop architecture enables the system to iteratively decompose design objectives, orchestrate computational tools, and update strategies based on feedback with minimal human intervention\. Constrained by the absolute metrics of the Vortex100 Benchmark, VortexChat autonomously generates devices that strictly meet all predefined performance thresholds without any human\-in\-the\-loop\. As an experimental demonstration, we fabricated a broadband terahertz perfect vortex beam multiplexer, autonomously designed by VortexChat, with measurements confirming high\-efficiency operation, high mode purity and low inter\-channel crosstalk in agreement with full\-wave simulations\. These results demonstrate that an LLM agent can assume key aspects of expert decision\-making in photonic inverse design while maintaining physical fidelity and fabrication feasibility, providing a scalable route towards autonomous design of complex integrated photonic systems\.

## Submission history

From: Faqian Chong \[[view email](https://arxiv.org/show-email/54383e47/2608.20688)\] **\[v1\]**Fri, 21 Aug 2026 02:50:44 UTC \(2,106 KB\)

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