Surface functionalization under water using picosecond and femtosecond laser pulses – first observations and novel effects

Functionalization by changing the topography of workpiece surfaces is interesting for many applications. Lasers – especially ultrashort pulse lasers – are flexible tools for this kind of tasks. Besides deterministic structures they allow for processing surfaces in a way that stochastic structures appear. Ripple and spike structures can be fabricated in air. In liquids, however, there are only a few investigations and many open questions. The idea of this paper is to check how water in contact to the workpiece surface affects femtosecond laser surface processing and what kind of structures appear. Results obtained with a picosecond laser are presented for comparison.