Toner-print removal from paper by long and ultrashort pulsed lasers by David Ricardo Leal-Ayala, J. M. Allwood, M. Schmidt, and I. Alexeev Proceedings A Volume 468(2144): August 8, 2012 ©2012 by The Royal Society

Ultrashort-pulsed laser samples—(a) 800 nm at 1000 fs, (b) 400 nm at 500 fs, (c) 266 nm at 120 fs, (d) 1064 nm at 10 ps, (e) 532 nm at 10 ps, and (f) 355 nm at 10 ps. David Ricardo Leal-Ayala et al. Proc. R. Soc. A 2012;468: ©2012 by The Royal Society

(a) Optical microscope (×20) and (b) SEM images from ultrashort-pulsed trials—(i) blank paper, (ii) 800 nm at 1000 fs, (iii) 400 nm at 500 fs, (iv) 266 nm at 120 fs, (v) 1064 nm at 10 ps, (vi) 532 nm at 10 ps, and (vii) 355 nm at 10 ps. David Ricardo Leal-Ayala et al. Proc. R. Soc. A 2012;468: ©2012 by The Royal Society

(a) Optical microscope (×20) and (b) SEM images from long-pulsed trials in the nanosecond regime—(i) 1064 nm at 40 ns, (ii) 532 nm at 4 ns, (iii) 532 nm at 29 ns, and (iv) 355 nm at 75 ns. David Ricardo Leal-Ayala et al. Proc. R. Soc. A 2012;468: ©2012 by The Royal Society

Relationship between wavelength, pulse length and paper damage (areas are approximate). David Ricardo Leal-Ayala et al. Proc. R. Soc. A 2012;468: ©2012 by The Royal Society

Peak power and optimum fluence versus pulse length for visible results. David Ricardo Leal-Ayala et al. Proc. R. Soc. A 2012;468: ©2012 by The Royal Society

ATR–FTIR spectra from UV laser samples (normalized with respect to the most intense band in the spectrum near the 4000 cm−1 limit). David Ricardo Leal-Ayala et al. Proc. R. Soc. A 2012;468: ©2012 by The Royal Society

ATR–FTIR spectra from visible laser samples (normalized with respect to the most intense band in the spectrum near the 4000 cm−1 limit). David Ricardo Leal-Ayala et al. Proc. R. Soc. A 2012;468: ©2012 by The Royal Society

ATR–FTIR spectra from the best laser toner-removal samples (normalized with respect to the most intense band in the spectrum near the 4000 cm−1 limit). David Ricardo Leal-Ayala et al. Proc. R. Soc. A 2012;468: ©2012 by The Royal Society

Theoretical and measured values of ablation depth versus fluence for a 532 nm laser with 4 ns and 10 ps pulses. David Ricardo Leal-Ayala et al. Proc. R. Soc. A 2012;468: ©2012 by The Royal Society

Theoretical and experimental values of ablation depth versus fluence for a 1064 nm laser with 10 ps pulses. David Ricardo Leal-Ayala et al. Proc. R. Soc. A 2012;468: ©2012 by The Royal Society