Manipulation of laser ablation plume by magnetic field application

Time- and wavelength-resolved observation of a laser ablation plume from a strontium titanate target was performed under a dipole magnetic field applied from the substrate side. In contrast to the conventional method, the present method gave rise to increasing ionization of the growth species in the plume in the vicinity of the substrate. Using this method, NiO films could be epitaxially grown on (100)MgO substrates even at room temperature. When we placed a shadow mask between the target and the substrate (eclipse method), the deposition rate was increased to by 2.6-fold that under zero magnetic field.