Far-field and near-field material processing with. femtosecond laser pulses

Recently, it has been proven that femtosecond lasers are ideal tools for the microstructuring of solid targets. Since thermal and mechanical influences are minimized, diffraction-limited structures can be generated in the far field. The diffraction limit can be overcome when one works in the near field. In this paper, concrete applications and new developments in both regimes are highlighted.