A practical model of acoustic wave generation by a pulsed laser source in the ablative
regime is presented. The pressure exerted on the surface during Q-switched laser heating is
calculated through a finite difference solution of the vaporization problem. The epicentral
displacement is found through summation of the displacement field induced by the
vaporization process with that caused by thermoelastic expansion. The model is restricted to
the weakly ablative regime in the absence of a backing gas. The results are compared to the …