Chinese researchers have developed an on-chip integrated polarization photodetector (pol-PD), drawing inspiration from the unique polarization vision of desert ants.
The study, recently published in the journal Science Advances, was conducted by researchers from the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry (TIPC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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.