Epitaxial growth of MgO nanowires by pulsed laser deposition

We fabricated single-crystalline MgO nanowires epitaxially grown on MgO single crystal substrate using the Au catalyst-assisted pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Controlling appropriately the amount of Au catalyst and the substrate temperature was found to be crucial for the MgO nanowire growth using the catalyst-assisted PLD. In addition, (100) oriented MgO nanowires were epitaxially grown on (100), (110), and (111) oriented substrates, allowing the limited growth directions. The possible growth mechanism of MgO nanowires in PLD is discussed. This feasibility of PLD for fabricating MgO nanowires would contribute to incorporating the rich functionalities of various transition metal oxides into nanowires via in situ construction of heterostructures in oxide nanowires. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.