Abstract
High-resolution short-wave infrared hyperspectral imaging enables non-destructive material identification and imaging through scattering media, paving the way for transformative applications in portable diagnostics, precision agriculture, environmental monitoring and space exploration. However, conventional hyperspectral imagers face a compromise between spatial resolution, spectral resolution and device footprint. Here we report a miniaturized hyperspectral image sensor that mitigates this trade-off by leveraging monolithically integrated, bias-reconfigurable stacked colloidal quantum dot junctions and a bias-programmable spectral reconstruction algorithm. By applying a defined sequence of single-polarity increasing bias voltages, the interfacial band alignment can be tuned, thus mediating the collection of photon-generated carriers in colloidal quantum dot layers with different energy gap. Our imager achieves spatial resolution of 1,280 × 1,024, spectral resolution of 1 nm, reconstruction accuracy of 0.055 nm, peak detectivity above 10¹³ jones and broadband coverage (400–1,700 nm), all within a compact pixel footprint of 15 × 15 µm². The high signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution result in accurate reconstruction of hyperspectral image information, enabling food quality monitoring, chemical solvents discrimination and materials identification.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
X.T. is sponsored by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2021YFA0717600), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC no. 62035004), Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (grant no. YESS20200163), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, Administrative Commission of Zhongguancun Science Park (grant no. Z241100009324010). G.M. is sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC no. 62575021, NSFC no. 62305022), Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (grant no. YESS20240239). Q.H. is sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC no. U22A2081).
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X.T. supervised and directed the study. X.T. and G.M. conceived and designed the experiments. X.T. and G.M. cowrote the manuscript. G.M. performed the material characterization. J.Z. fabricated detectors. C.B. designed spectral experiments and reconstruction algorithms. Y.L. contributed to the focal-plane array characterization. Q.H. contributed to the supervision. All authors contributed to discussions regarding the manuscript.
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X.T. and Y.L. serve as cofounders and shareholders at XinIR Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. The other authors declare no competing interests.
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Mu, G., Bi, C., Zou, J. et al. Hyperspectral quantum-dot image sensors via in-pixel reconfigurable band-alignment. Nat. Photon. 20, 523–531 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-026-01860-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-026-01860-z
