Neuromorphic Polarization Vision Enabled by Organic Single-Crystal Photosynaptic Transistors

Polarization vision, a highly sophisticated visual capability in insects such as butterflies and bees, plays a pivotal role in enabling survival-critical ecological behaviors, such as navigation, intraspecific communication, mating, and habitat selection. However, the replication of this capability in artificial systems has long been impeded by the limited dichroic ratio (DR, typically < 10) of existing materials and the complexity of conventional optical designs. Here, the first time a bioinspired polarization-sensitive photosynaptic transistor is developed based on organic micro-crystal arrays for neuromorphic polarization vision. By leveraging the polarization-dependent photogating effect in intrinsically anisotropic organic crystals, the device achieves an unprecedented DR exceeding 10³ within a minimal gate-bias window of 1 V, outperforming existing polarization-sensitive photodetectors by two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the device successfully mimics the synaptic plasticity of polarization-sensitive visual neurons, enabling tunable transitions between short-term and long-term plasticity through a charge-storage accumulative process. Significantly, it operates with an exceptionally low energy consumption of 0.22 pJ per synaptic event under ultraweak polarized light of 600 nW cm^-2, rivaling the efficiency of biological neural systems. Further it demonstrates the replication of complex polarization vision behaviors of butterflies, including intraspecific communication and target recognition, using this artificial visual neuron. Our work opens new avenues for neuromorphic polarization vision, with broad implications for intelligent neurorobotics and energy-efficient biomimetic electronics.