Polarization photodetectors (pol-PDs) have widespread applications in geological remote sensing, machine vision, and biological medicine. However, commercial pol-PDs usually require bulky and complicated optical components and are difficult to miniaturize and integrate.

Chinese researchers have recently made important progress in this area by developing an on-chip integrated polarization photodetector.

This study, published in Science Advances on Dec. 4, was conducted by Prof. Li Mingzhu’s group from the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The research team was inspired by the unique capacity of desert ants for polarization vision. With this capability, desert ants can travel back to their nests across barren landscapes without any landmarks since their compound eyes are able to perceive polarized sunlight. The researchers aimed to mimic this capacity with their polarization photodetector.

First, Li and her group proposed a one-step nanoimprinting crystallization method. They then used this method to fabricate a high-crystalline perovskite, single-crystal-thin film with high-throughput, quadridirectional grating arrays. Based on this film, the researchers constructed a single-shot, on-chip pol-PD without any additional polarization optics.

In addition, the nanoimprinting crystallization method provides a novel and universal solution for preparing patterned perovskite, single-crystal-thin films with high optoelectronic performance and superior light regulation capability.

This method makes it possible to use bio-inspired single-shot polarization photodetectors to build a simple, cost-effective, highly sensitive polarization imaging system. It also offers a pathway for the development of highly sensitive, miniaturized, on-chip integrated polarization imaging systems. Polarization imaging offers multiple advantages such as multi-dimensional detection, high precision, high contrast, and dehazing.

The polarization photodetector has now been applied in many fields including visual dehazing, polymer stress visualization, and detection of cancerous areas in tissues.

This work was supported by the National Science Fund of China for Distinguished Young Scholars, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key R&D Program of China, and the International Partnership Program of CAS.

Desert ant eyes inspired single-shot on-chip pol-PD for polarization imaging (Image by LI Mingzhu's group)