diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 370f69647a..16fafa42d1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Correct sign in objective function history depending on `Optimizer.maximize`.
 - Fix to batch mode solver run that could create multiple copies of the same folder.
 - Fixed ``ModeSolver.plot`` method when the simulation is not at the origin.
+- Gradient calculation is orders of magnitude faster for large datasets and many structures by applying more efficient handling of field interpolation and passing to structures.
 
 ## [2.7.4] - 2024-09-25
 
diff --git a/tidy3d/components/autograd/derivative_utils.py b/tidy3d/components/autograd/derivative_utils.py
index 612fc018f6..781148f8d9 100644
--- a/tidy3d/components/autograd/derivative_utils.py
+++ b/tidy3d/components/autograd/derivative_utils.py
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ def evaluate_flds_at(
 
         components = {}
         for fld_name, arr in fld_dataset.items():
-            components[fld_name] = arr.interp(**interp_kwargs).sum("f")
+            components[fld_name] = arr.interp(**interp_kwargs, assume_sorted=True).sum("f")
 
         return components
 
diff --git a/tidy3d/components/geometry/base.py b/tidy3d/components/geometry/base.py
index 26d4c7c6eb..cd2fff7b3f 100644
--- a/tidy3d/components/geometry/base.py
+++ b/tidy3d/components/geometry/base.py
@@ -3214,7 +3214,7 @@ def compute_derivatives(self, derivative_info: DerivativeInfo) -> AutogradFieldM
             _, index, *geo_path = field_path
             geo = self.geometries[index]
             geo_info = derivative_info.updated_copy(
-                paths=[geo_path], bounds=geo.bounds, eps_approx=True
+                paths=[geo_path], bounds=geo.bounds, eps_approx=True, deep=False
             )
             vjp_dict_geo = geo.compute_derivatives(geo_info)
             grad_vjp_values = list(vjp_dict_geo.values())
diff --git a/tidy3d/components/geometry/primitives.py b/tidy3d/components/geometry/primitives.py
index e769c4a3e4..c8316659e1 100644
--- a/tidy3d/components/geometry/primitives.py
+++ b/tidy3d/components/geometry/primitives.py
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ def compute_derivatives(self, derivative_info: DerivativeInfo) -> AutogradFieldM
         # construct equivalent polyslab and compute the derivatives
         polyslab = self.to_polyslab(num_pts_circumference=num_pts_circumference)
 
-        derivative_info_polyslab = derivative_info.updated_copy(paths=[("vertices",)])
+        derivative_info_polyslab = derivative_info.updated_copy(paths=[("vertices",)], deep=False)
         vjps_polyslab = polyslab.compute_derivatives(derivative_info_polyslab)
 
         vjps_vertices_xs, vjps_vertices_ys = vjps_polyslab[("vertices",)].T
diff --git a/tidy3d/components/medium.py b/tidy3d/components/medium.py
index ac29f31d3c..5e60901fc0 100644
--- a/tidy3d/components/medium.py
+++ b/tidy3d/components/medium.py
@@ -1426,7 +1426,9 @@ def _derivative_field_cmp(
 
         # TODO: probably this could be more robust. eg if the DataArray has weird edge cases
         E_der_dim = E_der_map[f"E{dim}"]
-        E_der_dim_interp = E_der_dim.interp(**coords_interp).fillna(0.0).sum(dims_sum).sum("f")
+        E_der_dim_interp = (
+            E_der_dim.interp(**coords_interp, assume_sorted=True).fillna(0.0).sum(dims_sum).sum("f")
+        )
         vjp_array = np.array(E_der_dim_interp.values).astype(complex)
         vjp_array = vjp_array.reshape(eps_data.shape)
 
@@ -2618,7 +2620,9 @@ def _derivative_field_cmp(
 
         # TODO: probably this could be more robust. eg if the DataArray has weird edge cases
         E_der_dim = E_der_map[f"E{dim}"]
-        E_der_dim_interp = E_der_dim.interp(**coords_interp).fillna(0.0).sum(dims_sum).real
+        E_der_dim_interp = (
+            E_der_dim.interp(**coords_interp, assume_sorted=True).fillna(0.0).sum(dims_sum).real
+        )
         E_der_dim_interp = E_der_dim_interp.sum("f")
 
         vjp_array = np.array(E_der_dim_interp.values, dtype=float)
diff --git a/tidy3d/components/structure.py b/tidy3d/components/structure.py
index fdfee65fe3..518dc3e3ba 100644
--- a/tidy3d/components/structure.py
+++ b/tidy3d/components/structure.py
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ def compute_derivatives(self, derivative_info: DerivativeInfo) -> AutogradFieldM
         for med_or_geo, field_paths in structure_fields_map.items():
             # grab derivative values {field_name -> vjp_value}
             med_or_geo_field = self.medium if med_or_geo == "medium" else self.geometry
-            info = derivative_info.updated_copy(paths=field_paths)
+            info = derivative_info.updated_copy(paths=field_paths, deep=False)
             derivative_values_map = med_or_geo_field.compute_derivatives(derivative_info=info)
 
             # construct map of {field path -> derivative value}