A commercial femtosecond pulse laser was used to study the interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with aluminum. Tests were conducted to measure the average drilling rate over a range of laser pulse energies in both air and vacuum at the wavelengths corresponding to the fundamental and second harmonic of the laser. For the fundamental wavelength, it was observed that the drilling rates in vacuum were significantly higher than that for drilling in atmospheric air. For the laser beam that was converted to second harmonic, the drilling rate in vacuum at the same energy was slightly lower than that for drilling in air. The observed results can be explained by the presence of an energetic nanosecond pedestal in the laser pulse produced by the femtosecond laser system. This nanosecond component provides a major contribution into drilling and it is strongly affected by the optical breakdown plasma that reduces the drilling rate in air. Conversion to second harmonic reduces the relative energy content of the nanosecond component resulting in a higher contrast femtosecond pulse that is not affected by the near surface plasma. The presence of air results in self-focusing of the second harmonic laser beam, causing an increased drilling rate as compared to the interaction in vacuum. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.