Lanthanide-doped strontium barium niobate (SBN) materials: A vibrational investigation

Vibrational Raman spectra have been measured for strontium barium niobate (Sr0.5Ba0.5Nb2O6, SBN50) single crystals and nanopowders doped with 1 mol% of the luminescent ions Eu3+ and Er3+. The nanocrystalline materials show slightly broader spectra with respect to the single crystals with the same composition. The presence of the Eu3+ and Er3+ ions at the 1 mol% doping level, and the present particle size (200 nm) do not appear to affect the ferro-to-paraelectric phase transition temperature typical of undoped SBN50 single crystals, as detected from anomalies in the dependence of the position of the Raman peak around 635 cm−1 as a function of the temperature.