The E-MRS Symposium entitled "Laser Processing of Surfaces and Thin Films" took place in Spring, 1996 and was a forum for discussing fundamental questions in the field, as well as progress and new perspectives in various applications. Particular emphasis was given to surface modifications with pico- and femtosecond laser pulses, deposition of thin films, cluster production, nanostructure manufacturing, surface cleaning, analysis of surfaces and multilayers, and the development of analytical techniques.
The proceedings contain 118 refereed papers of the 145 papers presented, and is divided into 11 sections, reflecting the diversity of topics that have evolved over the last few years.
Section 1 refers to Interaction of ultrashort pulses with solids. Section 2 discusses optical materials and hard coatings. Section 3 presents the joint session Symposia H & K - Nanometric phenomena and section 4 refers to the poster session 1, laser surface processing. Section 5 covers chemical processing and polymers. Insulators is covered in section 6 and phase transitions in section 7. Deposition of ceramics is covered in section 8 and chemical processing in section 9. Section 10 covers characterization and processing and the final section deals with Plasma dynamics and processing of biomaterials
