Overview

In an inverse problem, one seeks the nature of the components of a system with known (or targeted) resultant behavior---perhaps opposite to the traditional trajectory of problem solving in physical research. In this thesis, a number of inverse problems in two categories are considered. In the first, in many-body classical systems with isotropic two-body interactions, we target uncharacteristic, technologically relevant thermodynamic behavior. In the second, we consider two problems in electromagnetic scattering and photonics. Increasingly, experimentalists have been able to tailor isotropic interactions between micron-scale colloidal spheres, allowing for the possibility of targeted self-assembly of a desired crystal structure upon freezing. Self-assembly of certain structures, the diamond lattice in particular, has a great deal of technological potential in the fields of optoelectronics and photonics. We present here new computational algorithms that find isotropic interaction potentials that yield targeted ground state crystal structures. These algorithms are applied to find interaction potentials for the honeycomb lattice (which is the two-dimensional analog of diamond), the square lattice, the simple cubic lattice, the wurtzite as well as the diamond lattice. We also present an isotropic interaction potential that gives rise to negative thermal expansion, a macroscopic behavior that has previously been associated with a highly anisotropic microscopic mechanism. Furthermore, we show that systems with only isotropic interactions may exhibit a negative Poisson's ratio, as long as they are under tension. We derive linear constraints involving the derivatives of the pair potential that gives rise to this behavior. In a study of electromagnetic scattering in random dielectric two-component composites, we use a strong-contrast perturbation expansion to obtain analytic expressions for the effective dielectric tensor to arbitrary order in the dielectric contrast between component phases. In the process, we show that attenuation due to elastic scattering in a lossless dielectric medium in the long-wavelength regime is closely related to the coarseness of the composite. In the final inverse problem, we find quasiperiodic dielectric patterns that have maximal photonic bandgaps, for a number of different crystallographically forbidden rotational symmetries. The structures have the largest known gaps for quasicrystals in two dimensions, and were derived using a novel optimization routine that we present here. Quasicrystals are ideal structures for producing full photonic bandgaps since their high rotational symmetries give rise to a more isotropic band structure.

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