Efficient upconversion photoluminescence in transparent Pr3+/Yb3+ co-doped 0.75Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–0.25PbTiO3 ferroelectric ceramics

To date there is no report on the photoluminescence property in Pr 3+ /Yb 3+ co-doped or Pr 3+ single doped ferroelectrics Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 –PbTiO 3 , abbreviated as PMN-PT. This letter presents the efficient upconversion (UC) luminescence in 0.75PMN-0.25PT:1.5%Pr/ y Yb transparent ceramics together with luminescence mechanism. When the transparent ceramics were excited by 980 nm laser, strong visible UC emissions at 491, 529, 539, 623, 649, 685, 710 and 737 nm were detected, besides strong near-infrared down-conversion emissions of Pr 3+ at 1061 nm and of Yb 3+ around 1006 nm. The visible UC emission was found to be a two-photon process and sensitized by Yb 3+ . The intensities of the visible UC emissions saturate at higher pump power above 1.65 W when the Yb 3+ concentration y  ≥ 3%. The intensity saturation results from the depletion of ground state population and reverse energy transfer in cross-relaxation way. Relative to the intensities of the red emissions, those of the blue-green emissions decrease remarkably as the Yb 3+ content increases. This interesting phenomenon can be attributed to the higher local symmetry of Pr 3+ sites in the ceramics of higher Yb 3+ content. The various photoluminescence properties and excellent ferroelectric properties make our Pr 3+ /Yb 3+ -doped transparent ceramics promising multifunctional optical luminescence materials.