Metal Ablation with Short and Ultrashort Laser Pulses

In laser microstructuring there is a general conflict between precision and efficiency. Short pulsed micro- and nanosecond systems generally allow high ablation rates. Yet, thermal damage of the workpiece cannot be avoided completely. Ultrafast picoand femtosecond systems allow a higher precision, yet at lower ablation efficiency. This on the one hand can be attributed to the generally lower medium laser power of the ultrafast laser systems, on the other hand to the changed ablation mechanisms. In this contribution a comparative study of the ablation of metal with micro-, nano-, pico- and femtosecond laser pulses shall be presented