Evaluation of the role of beam homogeneity on the mechanical coupling of laser-ablation-generated impulse.

The material emitted from a target surface during laser ablation generates a net thrust (propulsion) in the opposite direction. The momentum generation efficiency of this laser-driven propulsion is given by the mechanical coupling coefficient (). In this work, we considered nanosecond UV laser ablation of the aluminum 6061 alloy to study the behavior with different irradiating conditions.