Modification of the surface structure of solid materials by laser radi
ation involves a complex chain of processes. The first step is the dep
osition of a certain amount of optical energy in the material. The cha
racter of the material excitation is strongly dependent on the laser p
ulse duration. With the use of ultrashort laser pulses non-equilibrium
energy distributions with large excess population in the excited stat
es can be produced. The distinct physical processes which come into pl
ay in laser-solid interaction on the ultrafast time scale open new rou
tes of modifying the structure and the morphology of materials and off
er interesting perspectives in laser materials processing.