A critical review of the developments in molecular dynamics simulations to study femtosecond laser ablation

Laser-matter interaction is a complex physical process that has come to the forefront of scientific research, particularly due to the advancements of laser technology and its wide availability in recent decades. Studying ultrashort pulsed lasers directly through the experiments is challenging due to the short time scales involved, which could be of the order of a few picoseconds to femtoseconds. Accurate insight and knowledge about these ultrafast light-matter interactions can potentially provide valuable opportunities to advance ultra-precision manufacturing and offer more control over deterministically processing materials with ultrashort pulsed lasers. In a chronological evaluation of the scientific outputs on this matter, several research trends are noticeable. This review paper outlines the prominent trends over the years to summarise the developmental journey so far in our understanding of this complex process. We review modern developments in ultrashort pulsed laser ablation, especially the contributions of Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations to the laser technology. We articulated the progress from analytical mathematical techniques employed in the 1990s, which facilitated widespread use of these lasers in applications ranging from medical procedures to material processing and beyond, to the advent of high-performance computing and the current focus on numerical atomistic modelling for improved real-time analysis of single pulse laser ablation. This knowledge is vital to advance the macroscopic understanding of various precision manufacturing processes relying on femtosecond lasers.