Independence of surface morphology and reconstruction during the thermal preparation of perovskite oxide surfaces

Abstract: Using a CO$_2$ laser to directly heat the crystals from the back side, SrTiO$_3$ substrates may be thermally prepared in situ for epitaxy without the need for ex-situ etching and annealing. We find that the formation of large terraces with straight steps at 900-1100 {\deg}C is independent from the formation of the ideal surface reconstruction for epitaxy, which requires temperatures in excess of 1200 {\deg}C to complete. The process may be universal, at least for perovskite oxide surfaces, as it also works, at different temperatures, for LaAlO$_3$ and NdGaO$_3$, two other widely used oxide substrate materials.