Abstract
Circularly polarized light (CPL) detection and polarization state recognition are required for a wide range of applications. Conventional polarization detection with optical components causes difficulties for miniaturization and integration. An effective design strategy is proposed for direct CPL detection with chiral material. Here, we realized direct CPL detection based on the combination of chiral photonic cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) and ultraviolet-sensitive ZnO photoconductive material. The CNC layer deposited by evaporation-induced self-assembly established the left-handed chiral nematic structure with a photonic bandgap (PBG) to recognize left-handed CPL (LCPL) and right-handed CPL (RCPL) at specific wavelengths. The PBG of CNC layer has been modulated by the adjustment of chiral nematic pitch to match the semiconductor bandgap of ZnO film in ultraviolet region. The photocurrents under RCPL and LCPL are 2.23 × 10−6 A and 1.77 × 10−6 A respectively and the anisotropy factor Δgpc of 0.23 is acquired for the CPL detection based on the chiral photonic CNC. This design provides a new approach to the detection of CPL polarization state with competitive performance.
Highlights
Polarized light (CPL) has attracted great interest in a wide range of applications, from optical communication [1] and quantum computing [2,3,4] to biosensor [5]and substance screening [6]
We propose a new optoelectronic device to realize the direct detection of circular polarization states with the combination of chiral photonic cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) material and ultraviolet-sensitive photoconductive ZnO material
We have successfully developed an integrated photodetector based on the combination of photoconductive ZnO and chiral photonic CNC to distinguish polarization states of Circularly polarized light (CPL)
Summary
Polarized light (CPL) has attracted great interest in a wide range of applications, from optical communication [1] and quantum computing [2,3,4] to biosensor [5]and substance screening [6]. Conventional polarization detection requires the assistance of optical components by integrating a non-chiral photodetector with a quarter-wave plate and a linear polarizer [7,8], but it is difficult to realize miniaturization and integration. Unlike indirect detection which requires optical elements, direct detection of CPL by chiral materials with intrinsic advantages can be exploited for integration in more applications [9]. Detectable electronic circuits for CPL can be created by a heterojunction photodiode [10,11,12], field-effect transistor [9], and plasmon resonance [13] to distinguish between different polarization states of CPL. Chiral organic semiconductors can be integrated as the photoactive layer in bulk heterojunction photodiodes to convert CPL into a polarization-dependent photocurrent [10,14]. Chiral hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites induce chirality into inorganic sublattice band edge states for efficient charge transport [11]
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