Multi-dimensional photodetection: from material intrinsic properties and metasurface engineering to silicon photonic integration

Integrated photodetectors capable of decoding multi-dimensional optical information are essential for modern information technologies and are widely applicable in areas such as autonomous driving, optical communications, and remote sensing. Recent progress in this field has been driven by the synergy among advances in low-dimensional materials, micro/nanofabrication technologies, and computational algorithms, which have enabled notable developments in integrable multidimensional optical-field detectors. In this review, we first introduce some basic principles of multi-dimensional light detection and outline the critical strategies for frontend optical encoding and backend computational decoding. Subsequently, we discuss detection schemes based on the intrinsic optical properties of low-dimensional materials. We then move to metasurface architectures that use subwavelength structural engineering to enable multi-dimensional light field detection. Furthermore, we summarize recent research on silicon-photonic integrated multidimensional photodetection that combines sensing and computing units. To conclude, we summarize key challenges, such as wafer-scale synthesis and interface engineering, and envision a future in which photodetectors evolve from simple signal converters into programmable, intelligent systems capable of comprehensive light-field perception.