Abstract: A method for laser assisted polishing of a material layer to a desired surface, the method including the steps of setting up a laser beam in an XYZ coordinate system to ablate spurious material from the material layer at the desired surface and thereabove and scanning the laser beam across the material layer such that consecutive laser beam irradiate at least partially non-overlapping portions of the material layer and laser beam pulses from different directions in the XYZ coordinate system successively irradiate a given area of the material layer.