Two-lasers assisted ablation: a method for enhancing conventional laser ablation of materials

A new method for enhanced ablation by pulsed laser radiation has been demonstrated. The method utilizes an "impulse" ablation laser in conjunction with cyclical heating of the tissue by an auxiliary source: the "primer." In this study we use an auxiliary laser as the "primer" heat source, which sets up a thermal and stress field modulation in the target material. The cyclical stress associated with the thermal modulation reduces material strength thus enhancing ablation (larger mass removed per pulse) by the "impulse" laser. Ablation rate enhancement of more than twice the single-laser value is demonstrated.