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Summary A detailed accuracy analysis of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) elastic strain measurement has been carried out using both simulated and experimental patterns. Strains are determined by measuring shifts between two EBSD patterns (one being the reference) over regions of interest (ROI) using an iterative cross‐correlation algorithm. An original minimization procedure over 20 regions of interests gives a unique solution for the eight independent components of the deviatoric displacement gradient tensor. It is shown that this method leads to strain measurements on simulated patterns with an accuracy better than 10−4. The influence of the projection parameters is also investigated. The accuracy assessment is illustrated by two worked examples: (i) four‐point bending of a silicon single crystal and (ii) Si1 –xGex layers on a Si substrate. Experimental results are compared with finite‐element simulations.

The structural changes generated in surface regions of single crystal Ni targets by femtosecond laser irradiation are investigated experimentally and computationally for laser fluences that, in the multipulse irradiation regime, produce sub-100 nm high spatial frequency surface structures. Detailed experimental characterization of the irradiated targets combining electron back scattered diffraction analysis with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals the presence of multiple nanoscale twinned domains in the irradiated surface regions of single crystal targets with (111) surface orientation. Atomistic- and continuum-level simulations performed for experimental irradiation conditions reproduce the generation of twinned domains and establish the conditions leading to the formation of growth twin boundaries in the course of the fast transient melting and epitaxial regrowth of the surface regions of the irradiated targets. The observation of growth twins in the irradiated Ni(111) targets provides strong evidence of the role of surface melting and resolidification in the formation of high spatial frequency surface structures. This also suggests that the formation of twinned domains can be used as a sensitive measure of the levels of liquid undercooling achieved in short pulse laser processing of metals.