A universal and improved mutation strategy for iterative wavefront shaping

Recent advances in iterative wavefront shaping (WFS) techniques have made it possible to manipulate the light focusing and transport in scattering media. To improve the optimization performance, various optimization algorithms and improved strategies have been utilized. Here, a novel guided mutation (GM) strategy is proposed to improve optimization efficiency for iterative WFS. For both phase modulation and binary amplitude modulation, considerable improvements in optimization effect and rate have been obtained using multiple GM-enhanced algorithms. Because of its improvements and universality, GM will be beneficial for applications ranging from controlling the transmission of light through disordered media to optical manipulation behind them.