The acquisition of reliable knowledge about the mechanism of short laser pulse interactions with semiconductor materials is an important step for high-tech technologies towards the development of new electronic devices, the functionalization of material surfaces with predesigned optical properties, and the manufacturing of nanorobots (such as nanoparticles) for bio-medical applications. The laser-induced nanostructuring of semiconductors, however, is a complex phenomenon with several interplaying processes occurring on a wide spatial and temporal scale. In this work, we apply the atomistic–continuum approach for modeling the interaction of an fs-laser pulse with a semiconductor target, using monolithic crystalline silicon (c-Si) and porous silicon (Si). This model addresses the kinetics of non-equilibrium laser-induced phase transitions with atomic resolution via molecular dynamics, whereas the effect of the laser-generated free carriers (electron–hole pairs) is accounted for via the dynamics of their density and temperature. The combined model was applied to study the microscopic mechanism of phase transitions during the laser-induced melting and ablation of monolithic crystalline (c-Si) and porous Si targets in a vacuum. The melting thresholds for the monolithic and porous targets were found to be 0.32 J/cm² and 0.29 J/cm², respectively. The limited heat conduction mechanism and the absence of internal stress accumulation were found to be involved in the processes responsible for the lowering of the melting threshold in the porous target. The results of this modeling were validated by comparing the melting thresholds obtained in the simulations to the experimental values. A difference in the mechanisms of ablation of the c-Si and porous Si targets was considered. Based on the simulation results, a prediction regarding the mechanism of the laser-assisted production of Si nanoparticles with the desired properties is drawn.

A physical model of metal nanoparticle fragmentation in liquid media upon exposure to femtosecond laser pulses is proposed by the example of gold nanoparticle fragmentation in water. The model is based on electrolyzing the metal nanoparticles heated by laser pulses and their fragmentation during development of the instability of charged liquid metal drops. The nanoparticle charge gained upon exposure to laser radiation in water is estimated and the nanoparticle fragmentation parameter is determined.

Patterns of absorption and reflection of an ultrashort laser pulse by plasma with a solid-state density, which are realized in the mode of the normal skin effect, are studied. If the pulse power is so high to provide the electron heating during the time shorter than the reciprocal fundamental frequency, a nonlinear suppression of absorption takes place and the spectrum of the reflected radiation contains odd harmonics of the fundamental frequency.

The production of non-toxic and homogeneous colloidal solutions of nanoparticles (NPs) for biomedical applications is of extreme importance nowadays. Among the various methods for generation of NPs, pulsed laser ablation in liquids (PLAL) has proven itself as a powerful and efficient tool in biomedical fields, allowing chemically pure silicon nanoparticles to be obtained. For example, laser-synthesized silicon nanoparticles (Si NPs) are widely used as contrast agents for bio visualization, as effective sensitizers of radiofrequency hyperthermia for cancer theranostics, in photodynamic therapy, as carriers of therapeutic radionuclides in nuclear nanomedicine, etc. Due to a number of complex and interrelated processes involved in the laser ablation phenomenon, however, the final characteristics of the resulting particles are difficult to control, and the obtained colloidal solutions frequently have broad and multimodal size distribution. Therefore, the subsequent fragmentation of the obtained NPs in the colloidal solutions due to pulsed laser irradiation can be utilized. The resulting NPs’ characteristics, however, depend on the parameters of laser irradiation as well as on the irradiated material and surrounding media properties. Thus, reliable knowledge of the mechanism of NP fragmentation is necessary for generation of a colloidal solution with NPs of predesigned properties. To investigate the mechanism of a laser-assisted NP fragmentation process, in this work, we perform a large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) modeling of FS laser interaction with colloidal solution of Si NPs. The obtained NPs are then characterized by their shape and morphological properties. The corresponding conclusion about the relative input of the properties of different laser-induced processes and materials to the mechanism of NP generation is drawn.

The sensitivity of optoacoustic (OA) detection in diluted suspensions of gold nanoparticles under irradiation with nanosecond laser pulses was studied as a function of incident laser fluence. The range of moderate values of the laser fluence from 20 mJ/cm² to 2 J/cm² was studied theoretically and experimentally. Under these laser fluences, the usual thermoelastic mechanism of OA generation faces competition from laser-induced cavitation, a statistical process, which leads to considerable fluctuations of the acoustic response from one laser pulse to another. Analytical expressions for the statistical characteristics of the acoustic signal were obtained. A simulation of the statistical characteristics of the cavitation contribution to the signal was performed using the method of Monte Carlo. The experiment utilized the second harmonic pulses (532 nm) of an Nd:YAG laser to irradiate samples of water suspensions of spherical gold nanoparticles (NPs). A series of laser pulses each having from 100 to 2000 pulses were used to iradiate the samples. The statistical rank distributions of the magnitudes of optoacoustic signals recorded by a wide band ultrasonic transducer attached to the measurement cell were used as a tool for sensitive detection of a low concentration of the gold nanoparticles in water.

The spatial distribution of the electric field of a light wave in ensembles of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) coated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is calculat