The impact of nano-structured surfaces on particle generation from ultrashort intense laser produced plasmas is presented over an intensity range of 1015–1017 Wcm−2. The nano-structured surface evidently produces hotter plasma but does not lead to the generation of hotter ions, a counterintuitive result based on present understanding of plasma expansion mechanism. Although the total ion flux and energy is more in the case of structured surfaces, the average energy of the projectiles is found to be lower than that from polished surfaces. The nano-structured surface shows preferential enhancement of lower energy ions and an intensity dependent divergence of the ejected particles.
