ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes diverse aspects of femtosecond laser ablation (fs-LA) of a solid target in a high vacuum and in a low-pressure background gas, focusing on metals and semiconductors. It reviews the understanding of the process of fs-LA through the analysis of the ablated material and of its expansion dynamics. The ultrashort laser sources providing pulses of fs duration are remarkable laboratory tools that have opened up a wide range of investigations, and fs-LA of solid targets is an emerging research field with a variety of possible applications. The properties of the ablated material and of its expansion dynamics are of paramount interest in numerous research fields, such as Pulsed Laser Deposition of thin films, Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, ion beam generation, and nanoparticle synthesis and deposition. Different techniques can be exploited to investigate the propagation of the fs-LA plume in high-vacuum conditions.
