"[Metanet is] an online repository of design algorithms and device layouts for photonic technologies. The inspiration for MetaNet comes from the data sciences community, where swift progress in machine learning development has been largely mediated through a culture of sharing, benchmarking, and use of common datasets, such as those featured in ImageNet and CIFAR. With MetaNet, we hope to satisfy four major needs within the photonics community. The first is providing an accessible and indexed repository for sharing high-performance devices, which can be directly used in an application. The second is providing labeled large-scale datasets for big data analyses, such as those based on machine learning. The third is the standardization of conventions and parameters for easy design benchmarking. The fourth is a centralized resource for openly available nanophotonics design software from groups across the world. To initiate this effort, we focus here on filling out MetaNet with metagrating devices and codebases, though our goal is to extend MetaNet to many classes of photonic technologies. Such a culture of sharing and collaboration is currently not mainstream in the photonics community, but we anticipate that this cultural shift will greatly expedite collaboration and the advancement of photonics design tools."

If Metanet was used as part of your research efforts, please make sure to cite the Metanet introductory paper.