Programmable Anomalous Photovoltaics Enabled by Light-Electric Dual-Field Control

Programmable photovoltaic functionalities offer a route to integrating energy conversion with information processing. However, existing approaches, relying on either heterostructure design or gate-free architectures based on ferroelectricity and ion migration, suffer from complex device architectures dictated by single-field modulation, where electrical bias simultaneously governs addressing and state switching, imposing an intrinsic constraint on spatial selectivity, architectural simplicity, and operational efficiency. Here, we introduce light as an independent, spatially resolved degree of freedom to decouple addressing from switching, establishing a light-electric dual-field programming paradigm for photovoltaic systems. Using anomalous photovoltaic effects in van der Waals ZnIn₂S₄ as a model system, we demonstrate nonvolatile, reconfigurable states with retention exceeding 100 days. Spatially localized illumination selects where programming occurs, while a global electric field switches the state, enabling selector-free operation without per-pixel wiring. The programmable response originates from the [ZnS₄] tetrahedral distortion and is markedly enhanced by pressure modulation. We demonstrate self-powered visual information processing with 87.9% accuracy in noisy image classification. These findings establish dual-field programming as a powerful strategy to lift the intrinsic constraints of single-field control, leveraging light as an independent control dimension to enable selector-free programmable photovoltaics and advanced optoelectronic architectures.