Rare earth ions feel the electric: A novel strategy to obtain efficient near-infrared photoluminescence

Abstract

Ferroelectrics doped with active luminescent ions have gradually paved the path of optoelectronic industry due to their multifunctionality and the dynamic modulation of luminescent properties through electric method widely broadens their application prospect in future devices. In this work, a novel strategy without compositional change is employed on the Er3+ doped transparent hybrid enriched with nano-sized ferroelectric LiNbO3 crystals to investigate the tunable photoluminescence performance. The results demonstrate that the photoluminescence acquires a tremendous boost after polarization engineering, that is, a six times enlargement. This notably light amplification effect is propelled by the reduction of environmental symmetry around luminescent Er3+ ions that is originated from electric polarization. Additionally, the prepared samples are proved to possess optical and electric properties simultaneously. Therefore, this multifunctional material with tunable luminescent properties is beneficial for regulating the physical couplings of electric and optics, which highlights the prospect in future optoelectronic industry.