Intrinsic Photovoltaic Effect-Enhanced Polarimetric Detection in Chiral Tellurium Nanowires Thin Film

Abstract

Anisotropic materials provide an ideal platform for on-chip polarimetric detection with immense potential in machine vision, bioimaging, and quantum computing. However, their polarization discrimination capability is often limited by the lack of an internal gain mechanism and the challenge of simultaneously detecting both linear and circular polarizations. To address this, we present a polarimetric photodetector with effective discrimination by designing an internal gain mechanism into a highly aligned tellurium (Te) nanowire film. This is achieved by leveraging the intrinsic photovoltaic effect along the crystallographic b axis, perpendicular to the helical chain direction (c axis). As a result, the two-terminal device along the b-axis exhibits dual-mode polarization discrimination capabilities, characterized by a linear polarization extinction ratio of 3.58 and a circular polarization asymmetry factor (|g|) of 0.65 in a single detector. Furthermore, we demonstrate a proof-of-concept polarization-encoded communication system that successfully decodes binary data encoded in both linear and circular polarization states, paving the way for advanced fully integrated optical sensing systems.