  Nature features a plethora of extraordinary photonic architectures that have
been optimized through natural evolution. While numerical optimization is
increasingly and successfully used in photonics, it has yet to replicate any of
these complex naturally occurring structures. Using evolutionary algorithms
directly inspired by natural evolution, we have retrieved emblematic natural
photonic structures, indicating how such regular structures might have
spontaneously emerged in nature and to which precise optical or fabrication
constraints they respond. Comparisons between algorithms show that
recombination between individuals inspired by sexual reproduction confers a
clear advantage in this context of modular problems and suggest further ways to
improve the algorithms. Such an in silico evolution can also suggest original
and elegant solutions to practical problems, as illustrated by the design of
counter-intuitive anti-reflective coating for solar cells.
