Part I Overview and Fundamentals: Introduction -- Thermal, Photophysical, and Photochemical Processes -- Reaction Kinetics and Transport of Species -- Nucleation and Cluster Formation -- Lasers, Experimental Aspects, Spatial Confinement -- Part II Temperature Distributions and Surface Melting: General Solutions of the Heat Equations -- Semi-infinite Substrates -- Infinite Slabs -- Non-uniform Media -- Surface Melting -- Part III Material Removal: Vaporization, Plasma Formation -- Nanosecond-Laser Ablation -- Ultrashort-Pulse Laser Ablation -- Etching of Metals and Insulators -- Etching of Semiconductors -- Part IV Material Deposition: Laser-CVD of Microstructures -- Growth of Fibers -- Direct Writing -- Thin-Film Formation by Laser-CVD -- Adsorbed Layers, Laser-MBE -- Liquid-Phase Deposition, Electroplating -- Thin-Film Formation by Pulsed-Laser Deposition and Laser-Induced Evaporation -- Part V Material Transformations, Synthesis and Structure Formation: Material Transformations, Laser Cleaning -- Doping -- Cladding, Alloying, and Synthesis -- Oxidation, Nitridation, and Reduction -- Transformation and Functionalization of Organic Materials -- Instabilities and Structure Formation -- Part VI Diagnostic Techniques, Plasmas: Diagnostic Techniques -- Analysis of Species and Plasmas,- Part VII Lasers in Medicine, Biotechnology and Arts: Lasers in Medicine and Biotechnology -- Restoration and Conservation of Artworks.

This book gives an overview of the fundamentals and applications of laser-matter interactions, in particular with regard to laser material processing. Special attention is given to laser-induced physical and chemical processes at gas-solid, liquid-solid, and solid-solid interfaces. Starting with the background physics, the book proceeds to examine applications of lasers in “standard” laser machining and laser chemical processing (LCP), including the patterning, coating, and modification of material surfaces. This fourth edition has been enlarged to cover the rapid advances in the understanding of the dynamics of materials under the action of ultrashort laser pulses, and to include a number of new topics, in particular the increasing importance of lasers in various different fields of surface functionalizations and nanotechnology. In two additional chapters, recent developments in biotechnology, medicine, art conservation and restoration are summarized. Graduate students, physicists, chemists, engineers, and manufacturers alike will find this book an invaluable reference work on laser processing.