The epitaxial growth of complex oxide thin films provide three avenues to generate unique properties: the ability to influence the 3-dimensional structure of the film, the presence of a surface, and the generation of an interface. In all three cases,
a clear understanding of the resulting atomic structure is desirable. However, determining the full structure of an epitaxial thin film (lattice parameters, space group, atomic positions, surface reconstructions) on a routine basis is a serious challenge. In this paper we highlight the remarkable information that can be extracted from both the Bragg scattering and inelastic multiple scattering events that occur during Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction. We review some methods to extract structural information and show how mature techniques used in other fields can be directly applied to the {em in-situ} and real-time diffraction images of a growing film. These collection of techniques give access to both the epitaxially influenced 3 dimensional bulk structure of the film, and any reconstructions that may happen at the surface.
The surfaces generated by cleaving non-polar, two-dimensional oxides are often considered to be perfect or ideal. However, single particle spectroscopies on Sr2RuO4, an archetypal non-polar two dimensional oxide, show significant cleavage temperature
dependence. We demonstrate that this is not a consequence of the intrinsic characteristics of the surface: lattice parameters and symmetries, step heights, atom positions, or density of states. Instead, we find a marked increase in the density of defects at the mesoscopic scale with increased cleave temperature. The potential generality of these defects to oxide surfaces may have broad consequences to interfacial control and the interpretation of surface sensitive measurements.
