**3. Conclusions**

Laser ablation allows numerous technological developments ranging from laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), pulsed laser deposition (PLD), laser propulsion, to surface modification and generation of nanoparticles, NPs. In this chapter, we have presented a review of the results obtained with these two latter processes. However, it should be noted that these effects or phenomena were found to occur during the implementation of the micromachining processes and have gained relevance since their observation by means of electron microscopy in its different forms SEM and TEM. The possibility of producing nanostructures on surfaces opens up new possibilities for studying their effects on physicochemical surface phenomena. These effects, mentioned in the Section 1.1.1, as laser-induced periodic surface structures and the increase of roughness in the generation of channels for chromatographic columns will allow the production of cheaper systems based on these principles. On the other hand, the heuristic model presented in Section 2.1 to explain the phenomenon of laser ablation allows us to understand the effect of surface modification and use it as a tool to transform surfaces by coating them with thin films. Another very important issue is the possibility of producing core–shell nanoparticles of the type shown in the Section 2.2, using different metals. In our case, the production of Fe@Au NPs resulted a very convenient way to unify in a same material the magnetic properties of Fe with the biological properties of Au. As a final remark, as it was our intention to put forward throughout this chapter, we would like to emphasize that nanosecond lasers are still a very important source for the modification of surfaces for technological uses.
