Orientation-dependent photoluminescence properties of Pr3+ doped Ba0.85Ca0.15Ti0.90Zr0.10O3 thin films

Abstract

Tuning the photoluminescence properties of rare earth doped ferroelectric thin films is extremely important for developing novel optical-electro devices. Here, the (001), (011) and (111)-oriented Pr3+ doped Ba0.85Ca0.15Ti0.90Zr0.10O3 (BCTZ:Pr3+) epitaxial thin films were prepared on Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 single crystalline substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The effects of crystal orientation on the photoluminescence properties of BCTZ:Pr3+ thin films were systematically investigated. Under the excitation of a 492 nm light, all the films exhibit strong green emission peak around 544 nm, which is ascribed to the transition of 3P0→3H5 of Pr3+ ions. Particularly, the emission intensity strongly depends on the crystal orientation with stronger intensity of (001) (16.76%) and (111)-oriented (19.56%) BCTZ:Pr3+ thin films than that of (011)-oriented one. The dependence of photoluminescence on the orientation can be attributed to different electron-phonon interactions and surface roughnesses. This work provides a novel strategy for the improvement of photoluminescence properties in lanthanides doped ferroelectric films.