A method to calculate the laser heating of layered structures

This work describes a method to calculate the heating that occurs when a Gaussian laser beam is scanned across the surface of a flat object which may be coated with one or more layers of differing materials. The laser beam is characterized by its power, radius, and scan velocity. Each layer of the object is characterized by its thickness, density, heat capacity, and thermal conductivity. Absorption of laser light is assumed to vary linearly across any one layer, and this absorption is characterized by two dimensionless constants. Temperature rise versus time is calculated as a function of position within the multilayer stack. Use of the technique is illustrated by considering the case of an optically opaque organic dye/polymeric binder coated onto a polymeric substrate. Such a construction may be used in optical data storage applications.