Growth of epitaxial SrVO₃ and LaVO₃ thin films

Perovskite vanadates have recently attracted significant attention for their wide-range of functional properties. Below around 140 K, LaVO₃ is an orbitally ordered antiferromagnetic insulator, while SrVO₃ is a strongly correlated paramagnetic metal. In this work, we use oxygen-plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to deposit epitaxial LaVO₃ and SrVO₃ thin films on insulating SrTiO₃ substrates. We use ex-situ x-ray diffraction and magnetotransport measurements to compare the properties of (001) and (111)-oriented samples. We also discuss the behavior of LaVO₃ / SrVO₃ heterostructures, where above-room-temperature ferromagnetism has been reported and ferroelectricity has been predicted.