Industrial laser cleaning – or ablation – is the process of clearing away undesired material from a solid  surface by irradiating it with a laser beam. By absorbing the energy of the laser beam, the targeted material is heated very quickly, making it evaporate or sublimate. As the surface below does not absorb any energy, it stays untouched.

By manipulating the laser flux, its wavelength and its pulse length, the amount of material that is being removed by a single laser pulse can be controlled with extreme precision. Making laser cleaning equally suitable for rapid and deep rust removal as for removing only one thin layer of paint, without damaging the base coat.