The editors of this book have succeeded admirably in bringing together the best work on materials processing at the nanometer scale. The sheer number of 1,245 pages, organized in three volumes and illustrated with 586 figures, shows how comprehensive it has become.
It is the right book at the right time: ultrafast lasers (that is, lasers with ps and fs pulses) have become available with ever-higher average powers. This has already led to the introduction of many micromachining techniques into mass production. Many nanomachining processes are now ready to move from research to industrial application.
Accordingly, the editors have gathered contributions from leading research groups around the world. They included theory of the processes, simulations and experimental insights. They separated the contributions into three parts—volume 1 on fundamental processes, volume 2 on concepts of extreme nanostructuring and volume 3 on applications.
Of course, they look at measuring the effects as much as they present methods to produce those tiny structures. This book is set to become the new standard reference for this field.
Review by Andreas Thoss, CEO, THOSS Media GmbH, Berlin, Germany.
The opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of OPN or its publisher, Optica (formerly OSA).