Bioinspired single-shot polarization photodetector based on four-directional grating arrays capped perovskite single-crystal thin film | Science Advances

Polarization photodetectors (pol-PDs) have widespread applications in geological remote sensing, machine vision, biological medicine, and so on. However, commercial pol-PDs use bulky and complicated optical systems with lenses, polarizers, and mechanical spools, which are complex and cumbersome, and respond slowly. Inspired by the desert ants’ compound eyes, we developed a single-shot pol-PD based on four-directional grating arrays capped perovskite single-crystal thin film without other standard polarization optics. Our pol-PD has a high detectivity, two orders of magnitude greater than that of commercial photodetectors, and exhibits high polarization sensitivity. The high performance of our pol-PD is due to the highly crystalline perovskite single-crystal thin film and regular nanograting structure, made by a nanoimprinting crystallization method. Our single-shot pol-PD is a compact on-chip optoelectronic device that demonstrates excellent performance in a wide range of applications including accurate bionic navigation, sharp image restoration in hazy scenes, stress visualization of polymers, and detection of cancerous areas in tissues without histological staining.