Dynamically Tuning the Up-conversion Luminescence of Er(3+)/Yb(3+) Co-doped Sodium Niobate Nano-crystals through Magnetic Field.

In this work, we show here that the up-conversion luminescence of NaNbO3:Er(3+)/Yb(3+) nano-materials can be modulated by magnetic field and a enhancement of up-conversion intensities by a factor of about 2 for Er(3+):(4)S3/2 → (4)I15/2 obtained at 30 T and about 5.4 for Er(3+):(4)F9/2 → (4)I15/2 obtained at 20 T. The increased up-conversion luminescence are mainly interpreted in terms of the enhanced non-radiation transition from (4)I11/2 to (4)I13/2 of Er(3+) ions and the spin-orbital coupling (that is "mixing" effect) in crystal field by an external magnetic field. Meanwhile, we observed continuously spectra broadening with growing the magnetic field intensity, which is ascribed to the "mixing" effect induced by magnetic field and the difference of g factor of sub-bands. This bi-functional material with controllable optical-magnetic interactions has various potential applications, such as optical detection of magnetic field, etc.