A Long-Wave Infrared Circularly Polarized Photodetector Based on an Array of Trapezoidal Silicon Pillars

Integrating metasurface-based polarizing filters atop photodetectors enables the expansion of detection capabilities from intensity to polarization, offering significant potential for applications requiring high-precision discrimination in scientific, industrial, and defense sectors. However, such metasurfaces often introduce optical efficiency losses. Here, we present a long-wave infrared (8.6 μm) circularly polarized photodetector capable of direct chiral discrimination, eliminating the need for additional optical components. The polarization selectivity arises from Guided-Mode resonances (GMRs) excited by two horizontally offset right-trapezoidal unit cells within a chiral metasurface. This design exhibits a pronounced transmittance contrast (~100%) between left circularly polarized light (LCP) and right circularly polarized light (RCP) while maintaining fabrication simplicity via a conventional single-step lithographic process. The proposed detector is expected to achieve high-dimensional physical characterization by resolving polarization-encoded vectorial information, demonstrating enhanced performance in complex environments.