Giant intrinsic dichroism in \b{eta}-Ga2O3 enables filter-free, high-fidelity polarization division multiplexing

Abstract

Conventional polarization detection relies on external filters, which incur significant efficiency loss and polarization crosstalk, especially in the deep ultraviolet band where subwavelength nanofabrication is challenging. Here, we report that monoclinic \b{eta}-Ga2O3 exhibits intrinsic giant polarization dichroism, allowing near-ideal polarization photodetection without external optical elements and coherent polarization-division multiplexing (PDM) capability. The giant dichroism originates from the crystallographic symmetry-driven selectivity of optical transitions, which, combined with a large valence band splitting, results in vastly distinct absorption for orthogonal polarizations. A theoretical analysis of the transition selection rules in \b{eta}-Ga2O3 reveals only the E//c-polarized vb1-to-conduction band transition is activated, within the 245-258 nm spectral window. An admirable polarization ratio surpassing 500 and a polarization crosstalk ratio below 0.2% is hence achieved. The polarization-sensitive photodetector exhibits a high responsivity of 73 A/W and fast response (20 ms). Furthermore, we showcase its practical utility in PDM free-space communication, successfully decoding encoded optical signals, and demonstrate its capability for high-fidelity Stokes vector retrieval. The intrinsic anisotropy of \b{eta}-Ga2O3, dictated by its crystal symmetry, lays the groundwork for filter-free, high-fidelity polarization polarimetry. This work further paves the way for a general design principle in next-generation optoelectronics that harness polarization transition selection rules.