A nanostructured Al2CuMg thin film was formed by ablating reactive arc melted targets with femtosecond (10(-15) s range) laser pulses in a high vacuum chamber (10(-6) Torr). The films were characterized by secondary electron microscopy, energy dispersive analysis of X-rays, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Discussion is focused on the morphology of the film produced by this technique. It was observed that the femtosecond ablation technique could be used to form nanostructured metallic thin films. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.