Epitaxial gamma-Al2O3 thin films were grown on diverse substrates using pulsed laser deposition. The high quality of epitaxial growth and cubic structure of gamma-Al2O3 films was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. SrTiO3 and MgO single crystal substrates were used to optimize the growth conditions for epitaxial gamma-Al2O3 film. Under the optimized conditions, epitaxial gamma-Al2O3 thin films were grown on flexible, single-crystal-like, metallic templates. These included untextured Hastelloy substrates with a biaxially textured MgO layer deposited using ion-beam-assisted-deposition and biaxially textured Ni-W metallic tapes with epitaxially grown and a biaxially textured. MgO buffer layer. These biaxially textured, gamma-Al2O3 films on flexible, single-crystal-like substrates are promising for subsequent epitaxial growth of various complex oxide films used for electrical, magnetic and electronic device applications. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.