Plastic deformation mechanism of polycrystalline copper foil shocked with femtosecond (fs) laser has been characterized through optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Experiments of ns laser shocking copper (Cu) and fs laser shocking aluminum (Al) were also conducted for comparison. Dislocations arranged in multiple forms, profuse twins and stacking faults (SFs) coexist in the fs laser shocked copper. At small strain condition, dislocation slip is the dominant deformation mode and small amount of SFs act as complementary mechanism. With strain increasing, profuse twins and SFs form to accommodate the plastic deformation. Furthermore, new formed SFs incline to locate around the old ones because the dislocation densities there are more higher. So there is a high probability for new SFs overlapping on old ones to form twins, or connecting old ones to lengthen them, which eventually produce the phenomena that twins connect with each other or twins connect with SFs. Strain greatly influences the dislocation density. Twins and SFs are more dependent on strain rate and shock pressure. Medium stacking fault energy (SFE) of copper helps to extend partial dislocations and provides sources for forming SFs and twins. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.