Donut-shaped laser radiation, carrying orbital angular momentum, namely optical vortex, was recently shown to provide vectorial mass transfer, twisting transiently molten material and producing chiral micro-scale structures on surfaces of different bulk materials upon their resolidification. In this paper, we show that at high-NA focusing nanosecond laser vortices can produce chiral nanoneedles (nanojets) of variable size on thin films of such plasmonic materials, as silver and gold films, covering thermally insulating substrates. Main geometric parameters of the produced chiral nanojets, such as height and aspect ratio, were shown to be tunable in a wide range by varying metal film thickness, supporting substrates, and the optical size of the vortex beam. Donut-shaped vortex nanosecond laser pulses, carrying two vortices with opposite handedness, were demonstrated to produce two chiral nanojets twisted in opposite directions. These results suggest optical interference of the incident and reflected laser beams as a source of complex surface intensity distributions in metal films, possessing spiral components and driving both center-symmetric and spiral thermocapillary melt flows to yield in frozen nanoneedles with their pre-determined spiral nanocarving.

The use of photons to directly or indirectly drive chemical reactions has revolutionized the field of nanomaterial synthesis resulting in appearance of new sustainable laser chemistry methods for manufacturing of micro‐ and nanostructures. The incident laser radiation triggers a complex interplay between the chemical and physical processes at the interface between the solid surface and the liquid or gas environment. In such a multi‐parameter system, the precise control over the resulting nanostructures is not possible without deep understanding of both environment‐affected chemical and physical processes. The present review intends to provide detailed systematization of these processes surveying both well‐established and emerging laser technologies for production of advanced nanostructures and nanomaterials. Both gases and liquids are considered as potential reacting environments affecting the fabrication process, while subtractive and additive manufacturing methods are analyzed. Finally, the prospects and emerging applications of such technologies are discussed.

Here, we applied direct laser-induced periodic surface structuring to drive the phase transition of amorphous silicon (a-Si) into nanocrystalline (nc) Si imprinted as regular arrangement of Si nanopillars passivated with a SiO₂ layer. By varying the laser beam scanning speed at a fixed pulse energy, we successfully tailored the resulting unique surface morphology of the formed LIPSSs that change from ordered arrangement of conical protrusions to highly uniform surface gratings, where sub-wavelength scale ripples decorate the valleys between near-wavelength scale ridges. Along with the surface morphology, the nc-Si/SiO₂ volume ratio can also be controlled via laser processing parameters allowing the tailoring of the optical properties of the produced textured surfaces to achieve anti-reflection performance or partial transmission in the visible spectral range. Diverse hierarchical LIPSSs can be fabricated and replicated over large-scale areas opening a pathway for various applications including optical sensors, nanoscale temperature management, and solar light harvesting. By taking advantage of good wettability, enlarged surface area and remarkable light-trapping characteristics of the produced hierarchical morphologies, we demonstrated the first LIPSS-based surface enhanced fluorescent sensor that allowed the identification of metal cations providing a sub-nM detection limit unachievable by conventional fluorescence measurements in solutions.