Ultra-short laser pulses are frequently used for material removal (ablation) in science, technology and medicine. However, the laser energy is often used inefficiently, thus, leading to low ablation rates. For the efficient ablation of a rectangular shaped cavity, the numerous process parameters such as scanning speed, distance between scanned lines, and spot size on the sample, have to be optimized. Therefore, finding the optimal set of process parameters is always a time-demanding and challenging task. Clear theoretical understanding of the influence of the process parameters on the material removal rate can improve the efficiency of laser energy utilization and enhance the ablation rate. In this work, a new model of rectangular cavity ablation is introduced. The model takes into account the decrease in ablation threshold, as well as saturation of the ablation depth with increasing number of pulses per spot. Scanning electron microscopy and the stylus profilometry were employed to characterize the ablated depth and evaluate the material removal rate. The numerical modelling showed a good agreement with the experimental results. High speed mimicking of bio-inspired functional surfaces by laser irradiation has been demonstrated.

Here, to the best of our knowledge, for the first time we report the in-depth study of extremely high ultrafast laser ablation efficiency for processing of copper and steel with single-pulses, MHz-, GHz-and burst in the burst (biburst) regime. The comparison of burst, biburst and single-pulse ablation efficiencies was performed for beam-size-optimised regimes, showing the real advantages and disadvantages of milling and drilling processing approaches. Highly-efficient ultrashort pulse laser processing was achieved for ~1 µm wavelength: 8.8 µm 3 /µJ for copper drilling, 5.6 µm 3 /µJ for copper milling, and 6.9 µm 3 /µJ for steel milling.We believe that the huge experimental data collected in this study will serve well for the better understanding of laser burst-matter interaction and theoretical modelling.

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Bio-inspired surfaces are able to decrease friction with fluids and gases. The most recognizable are shark-skin-like riblet surface structures. Such bio-inspired surfaces can be formed by the laser ablation technique. In this work, bio-inspired riblet surfaces with grooves were formed using picosecond ultraviolet laser ablation on pre-heated polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) at various sample temperatures. The ablation of hot PTFE was found to be 30% more efficient than the conventional laser structuring at the room temperature. The friction of structured PTFE surfaces with the flowing air was investigated by using drag a measurement setup. Results show the decrease of friction force by 6% with dimensionless riblet spacing around 14-20.

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