Ultrafast laser interference ablation leads to deterministic, strictly periodic patterns on metals and semiconductors with periods down to a few 100 nm. Manipulation of the interfering partial beams enable a variety of surface patterns with applications in photonics, fraud protection, electronics, fluidics, tribology, and medicine. Under suitable excitation conditions, a single beam may generate a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) and their interference may create a periodic surface pattern as well. Specific beam shaping may compensate the strong SPP attenuation leading to homogeneous patterns with a single laser pulse.
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