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

2 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. Received: 26 June 1997/Accepted: 7 July 1997