High-repetition rate femtosecond lasers are shown to drive heat accumulation processes that are attractive for femtosecond laser-induced subwavelength periodic surface structures on silicon. Femtosecond laser micromachining is no longer a nonthermal process, as long as the repetition rate reaches up to 100 kHz due to heat accumulation. Moreover, a higher repetition rate generates much better defined ripple structures on the silicon surface, based on the fact that accumulated heat raises lattice temperature to the melting point of silicon (1687 K), with more intense surface plasmons excited simultaneously. Comparison of the surface morphology on repetition rate and on the overlapping rate confirms that repetition rate and pulse overlapping rate are two competing factors that are responsible for the period of ripple structures. Ripple period drifts longer because of a higher repetition rate due to increasing electron density; however, the period of laser structured surface is significantly reduced with the pulse overlapping rate. The Maxwell–Garnett effect is confirmed to account for the ripple period-decreasing trend with the pulse overlapping rate.

“Lotus effect” glass surfaces with fluorinated ethylene propylene were successfully fabricated by using a femtosecond laser-induced backward transfer (LIBT) method. By space-selectively modifying both the surface morphology and surface chemistry in a single step, LIBT provides a convenient and flexible route to fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces with ultralow adhesion. A systematic mechanism responsible for the anisotropic wetting behaviors and adhesion modulation was proposed with a combination of the Cassie and Wenzel models. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that oxidation and defluorination were induced by laser radiation. LIBT is proved to be a promising method for programmable manipulations of functional surfaces with diverse wettability.

One-step precipitation of Ag nanoparticles in Ag⁺-doped silicate glasses was achieved through a focused picosecond laser with a high repetition rate. Absorption spectra and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed that metallic Ag nanoparticles were precipitated within glass samples in the laser-written domain. The surface plasmon absorbance fits well with the experimental absorption spectrum. The nonlinear absorption coefficient β is determined to be 2.47 × 10^-14 m/W by fitting the open aperture Z-scan curve, which originated from the intraband transition in the s-p Ag band. The formation mechanism of Ag-glass nanocomposites is discussed as well.