Stomatopods compound eye structure-inspired circular polarization quantum well infrared photodetectors
摘要
Polarization detection is a crucial technology widely employed in infrared detection, image recognition, and space optical communication. Within the realm of infrared detection, it serves to enhance the detection of faint targets against complex backgrounds. Consequently, enhancing the performance of polarization devices has become one of the pivotal directions in quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) research. This paper proposes a novel circular polarization QWIPs inspired by stomatopods compound eye structure. By emulating the compound eye structure of the mantis shrimp, we integrate a top dielectric metasurface and a bottom one-dimensional metallic grating on QWIPs to achieve circular polarization detection. The dielectric metasurface, fabricated by etching heavily doped GaAs material, primarily functions as a quarter-wave plate, decomposing incident circularly polarized light into two orthogonally polarized linear components. The one-dimensional metallic grating at the bottom of device, acting as a linear polarizer, selectively excites surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes, thereby distinguishing left-handed circularly polarized (LCP) light from right-handed circularly polarized (RCP) light. Finite-difference time-domain method was employed to calculate the total absorption spectrum of this integrated device. Under the LCP light incidence, the device exhibits a total absorption of 0.9 at the peak response wavelength of 7.8 μm, with a coupling efficiency of 3553%. Conversely, under RCP light incidence, the device demonstrates a total absorption of 0.1 at the same peak response wavelength, achieving a coupling efficiency of 95%. Furthermore, the device’s circular polarization extinction ratio reaches 37.4. This structure, achievable through quantum well focal plane array technology, represents a positive performing design for circular polarization QWIPs, contributing to enhancing target identification capabilities.