Dynamically Reconfigurable Polarization in Elastomeric Semiconductors for Stretchable Chiroptoelectronics
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Stretchable optoelectronics capable of dynamically controlling and detecting circularly polarized light offer transformative potential for wearable optoelectronic computing, biomimetic sensing, and photonic communication. However, conventional polarization-sensitive materials based on rigid birefringent optical crystals or chiral organic compounds inherently lack mechanical adaptability and reversible polarization tunability. Here, we introduce a mechanically robust, stretchable composite based on alignment-controllable semiconducting polymer nanofibers embedded in an elastomer matrix, which exhibits dynamically tunable optical activity through mechanical deformation and/or angular layer assembly. By stacking individual layers at controlled twist angles, we achieve highly sensitive chiroptical detection in the near-infrared range even under mechanical deformation (up to 50 % uniaxial and 30 % biaxial strain) for stretchable optoelectronics. Furthermore, our devices demonstrate reliable optoelectrical performance with high reproducibility under repeated stretching cycling, maintaining polarization-selective transistor functionality and enabling mechanically programmable optical logic gates (AND, XNOR). Our findings establish a transformative paradigm for mechanically adaptive chiroptoelectronics, enabling skin-integrated photonic sensing and computing.