Heteroepitaxial growth of oxides on sapphire induced by laser radiation in the solid-liquid interface

Abstract

O3, Fe2O3 and MnO2 on sapphire from an aqueous solutions of either CrO3, FeCl3, or KMnO4, respectively, under laser irradiation of the interface sapphire/liquid. The interface is exposed through the sapphire substrate to the radiation of a copper vapor laser (wavelength of 510 nm). The etching of sapphire is accompanied by the deposition of oxide films, which are shown to grow epitaxially on the sapphire substrate, while the deposition of the polycrystalline oxide film occurs on a glass substrate under the same experimental conditions. Similarly, the epitaxial growth of cubic Fe2O3 and orthorhombic MnO2 is observed, though their crystallographic structure is different from the hexagonal structure of sapphire.