Tuning photoluminescence response by electric field in the lead-free piezoelectric Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3-BaTiO3

We show that an electrically soft ferroelectric host can be used to tune the photoluminescence (PL) response of rare-earth emitter ions by external electric field. The proof of this concept is demonstrated by changing the PL response of Eu+3 ion by electric field on a model system Eu-doped 0.94Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3-0.06BaTiO3. We also show that new channels of radiative transitions, forbidden otherwise, open up due to positional disorder in the system, which can as well be tuned by electric field.Comment: 13 pages 5 figure