A Polarization-Sensitive ReS ₂ /Si Junction Field-Effect Synaptic Transistor for Biometric Authentication and Imaging Applications

Insect-inspired polarization vision systems leverage incident light polarization as an additional dimension for weighting synaptic responses, enabling on-device discrimination of dynamic environmental stimuli and efficient visual information processing. However, existing polarization-sensitive vision devices often face limitations such as suboptimal performance, high power consumption, and poor CMOS compatibility. This work demonstrates a ReS₂/p⁺-Si polarization-sensitive synaptic junction field-effect phototransistor that utilizes the rich polarization information carried by light to perform visual preprocessing directly at the device level, thereby reducing computational burdens on downstream processors. The device exhibits energy-efficient transistor characteristics, including a field-effect mobility of 12.5 cm² V^-1 s^-1, a low subthreshold swing of 74 mV/dec, and a high on/off ratio of 10⁵. Furthermore, its polarization-tunable synaptic response facilitates polarization-dependent functionalities such as contrast enhancement, glare suppression, and fingerprint recognition, offering a path toward polarization-enhanced neuromorphic vision sensing.