  Thin films are a prerequisite for application of the emergent exotic ground
states in iridates that result from the interplay of strong spin-orbit coupling
and electronic correlations. We report on pulsed laser deposition of
Li$_{2}$IrO$_{3}$ films on ZrO$_{2}$:Y(001) single crystalline substrates.
X-ray diffraction confirms preferential (001) and (10-1) out-of-plane
crystalline orientations with well defined in-plane orientation. Resistivity
between 35 and 300 K is dominated by a three-dimensional variable range hopping
mechanism. The dielectric function is determined by means of spectroscopic
ellipsometry and, complemented by Fourier transform infrared transmission
spectroscopy, reveals a small optical gap of $\approx$ 300 meV, a splitting of
the $5d$-$t_{2g}$ manifold, and several in-gap excitations attributed to
phonons and possibly magnons.
