To study the solid Cu ablation in vacuum, two different laser sources operating at 1064 and 308 nm wavelength are employed at similar values of laser fluences. The infrared laser is a Q-switched Nd:Yag having 9 ns pulse width (INFN-LNS, Catania), while the ultraviolet one is a XeCl excimer having 20 ns pulse width (INFN-LEA, Lecce). Both experiments produced a narrow angular distribution of the ejected material along the normal to the target surface. The ablation showed a threshold laser power density, of about 7 and 3 J/cm(2) at 1064 and 308 nm, respectively, below which the ablation effect was negligible. The laser interaction produces a plasma at the target surface, which expands very fast in the vacuum chamber. Time-of-flight (TOF) measurements of the ion emission indicated an average ion velocity of the order of 4.7 x 10(4) and 2.3 x 10(4) m/s for the infrared and ultraviolet radiation, respectively. We also estimated approximately the corresponding temperature of the plasma from which ions originated, i.e. about 10(6) and 10(5) K for IR and UV wavelength, respectively. A discussion of the analysis of the ablation mechanism is presented. At the used laser power densities the produced Cu ions showed ionisation states between 1+ and 5+ in both cases: (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.