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Fictitious domain methods are attractive for shape optimization applications, since they do not require deformed or regenerated meshes. A recently developed such method is the CutFEM approach, which allows crisp boundary representations and for which uniformly well-conditioned system matrices can be guaranteed. Here, we investigate the use of the CutFEM approach for acoustic shape optimization, using as test problem the design of an acoustic horn for favorable impedance-matching properties. The CutFEM approach is used to solve the Helmholtz equation, and the geometry of the horn is implicitly described by a level-set function. To promote smooth algorithmic updates of the geometry, we propose to use the nodal values of the Laplacian of the level-set function as design variables. This strategy also improves the algorithm's convergence rate, counteracts mesh dependence, and, in combination with Tikhonov regularization, controls small details in the optimized designs. An advantage with the proposed method is that the exact derivatives of the discrete objective function can be expressed as boundary integrals, as opposed to when using a traditional method that uses mesh deformations. The resulting horns possess excellent impedance-matching properties and exhibit surprising subwavelength structures, not previously seen, which are possible to capture due to the fixed mesh approach.

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