One-shot detection of light ellipticity using a two-dimensional quantum material device

Detection of light ellipticity is of crucial importance for target imaging and recognition in complex scenarios. However, it has been challenging to achieve one-shot detection of light ellipticity by a single conventional optoelectronic device, due to coupling between light intensity and polarization. Here, we realize one-shot detection of light ellipticity by using a single four-terminal valley Hall device based on monolayer MoS2 quantum material. The device can decouple the light intensity and the elliptical polarization and enable simultaneous detection of the light intensity and the elliptical polarization by using photoconduction and valley Hall effects. We show that the light ellipticity can be directly detected by measuring the Hall resistance of the device, which is defined as the ratio between the Hall voltage and the photocurrent. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our proposed approach can be used for detecting microplastics present in soil at a higher recognition precision than conventional approaches. Our work highlights the potential of exploiting unique properties of 2D quantum materials for multi-dimensional perception of optical information.