Ultrafast lasers for nano-material growth and processing

Laser ablation is a well-established solid-state film growth technique that typically involves applying a nanosecond laser beam to ablate a target material, followed by depositing the precursor vapor onto a substrate. A main technical obstacle for growing thin films with conventional nanosecond laser ablation is the formation of micron-sized particulates or droplets, which would be unacceptable for making materials with nanometer scale structures.