A high speed framing camera was used to record the sequential steps of the start, development, and cessation of a highly energetic plume of matter caused by a ruby laser pulse of intensity of the order of 10(7) W/cm(2) on alumina ceramic and copper materials. The results of the experiments have established that the laser intensity and a normalized absorption coefficient are the two most important factors to be considered for any material removal process such as hole drilling. This study has provided the experimental support of a theoretical analysis on laser-induced vaporization and explosion of solid material, developed and published previously.

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Laser melt quenching has been used to obtain high cooling rates comparable to those obtained by ``splat cooling'' techniques. By measurements of dendrite spacing, the average cooling rate in a laser-melted aluminum alloy was determined to be 3.7×106°C/sec. Laser melt quenching applied to a Ag–Cu alloy suppressed the two-phase equilibrium eutectic structure and resulted in the formation of a single-phase solid solution.

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