Ultrathin high-performance circular polarizers based on MoOCl2/NbOCl2 van der Waals heterostructures
Abstract
Circularly polarized light (CPL) holds immense promise for diverse applications, including 3D displays, quantum information processing, biosensing, and optical imaging. However, high-performance, ultrathin, and easily integrable devices for CPL manipulation and discrimination remain a significant challenge. Leveraging the phase modulation capability of the natural 2D van der Waals material NbOCl2 and the polarization selectivity of MoOCl2, we propose and demonstrate a lithography-free, easy-to-fabricate, ultrathin circular polarizer. The MoOCl2/NbOCl2 stacked nanoplates with submicrometer total thicknesses demonstrate pronounced discrimination between left- and right-handed CPL at designed visible wavelengths, achieving a maximum extinction ratio of 21.16 dB at 653 nm for a stack with a total thickness of approximately 730 nm. Furthermore, an approximately 690-nm-thick stacked device was integrated with an LED chip operating at a center wavelength of 580 nm, with an estimated degree of circular polarization (DOCP) reaching 99.68%, demonstrating the compatibility of the proposed circular polarizer with compact light-emitting platforms. This work provides a versatile strategy for constructing ultrathin, integrable circularly polarized photonic devices by leveraging the intrinsic optical anisotropy of natural low-dimensional materials, and demonstrates broad application prospects in chiral light-field detectors and on-chip circularly polarized light sources.
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BibTeX
@article{huang2026ultrathin,
title = {{Ultrathin high-performance circular polarizers based on MoOCl2/NbOCl2 van der Waals heterostructures}},
author = {Shuxin Huang and Guanyu Zhang and Yaolong Li and Xianghan Meng and Yijun Wang and Weizhe Zhang and Minghao Deng and Yixuan Xu and Zini Cao and Jiaqi Li and Kaihui Liu and Wenjing Liu and Qihuang Gong and Guowei Lyu},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-78564-z},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78564-z},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Ultrathin high-performance circular polarizers based on MoOCl2/NbOCl2 van der Waals heterostructures
AU - Shuxin Huang
AU - Guanyu Zhang
AU - Yaolong Li
AU - Xianghan Meng
AU - Yijun Wang
AU - Weizhe Zhang
AU - Minghao Deng
AU - Yixuan Xu
AU - Zini Cao
AU - Jiaqi Li
AU - Kaihui Liu
AU - Wenjing Liu
AU - Qihuang Gong
AU - Guowei Lyu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/06
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-78564-z
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78564-z
AB - Circularly polarized light (CPL) holds immense promise for diverse applications, including 3D displays, quantum information processing, biosensing, and optical imaging. However, high-performance, ultrathin, and easily integrable devices for CPL manipulation and discrimination remain a significant challenge. Leveraging the phase modulation capability of the natural 2D van der Waals material NbOCl2 and the polarization selectivity of MoOCl2, we propose and demonstrate a lithography-free, easy-to-fabricate, ultrathin circular polarizer. The MoOCl2/NbOCl2 stacked nanoplates with submicrometer total thicknesses demonstrate pronounced discrimination between left- and right-handed CPL at designed visible wavelengths, achieving a maximum extinction ratio of 21.16 dB at 653 nm for a stack with a total thickness of approximately 730 nm. Furthermore, an approximately 690-nm-thick stacked device was integrated with an LED chip operating at a center wavelength of 580 nm, with an estimated degree of circular polarization (DOCP) reaching 99.68%, demonstrating the compatibility of the proposed circular polarizer with compact light-emitting platforms. This work provides a versatile strategy for constructing ultrathin, integrable circularly polarized photonic devices by leveraging the intrinsic optical anisotropy of natural low-dimensional materials, and demonstrates broad application prospects in chiral light-field detectors and on-chip circularly polarized light sources.
SN - 2041-1723
ER -