Lanthanum aluminate is a member of the perovskite class of ceramics that have been demonstrated to superconduct at liquid nitrogen temperatures. The photomicrograph below was produced using a combination of Hoffman modulation contrast and polarized light.

Although not a superconductor itself, lanthanum aluminate is a very good substrate for thin-film growth of related superconducting ceramics using techniques such as laser ablation, Metal Oxide Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD), and Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE). Stair-step twinning, quite evident in this photomicrograph, interferes with the formation of confluent films and researchers are attempting new techniques to grow lanthanum aluminate crystals devoid of this twinning.