Laser ablation of paint coatings

"At the opposite end of the scale, a German manufacturer has developed a
short pulsed CO2, laser capable of generating 2 kW average power for
paint-stripping of aircraft (Anonymous, 1995). Pulses of far infrared
radiation are able to vaporize paint layers without thermal damage to the
underlying metallic or fibre-reinforced plastic surface. Air extraction and
filters are used to remove the waste products, which are claimed to amount to
just one-fiftieth of the waste created by chemical techniques. The company
claims that the surface of a wide-body aircraft (about 1600 M2) can be
stripped in three days using three lasers working in parallel." _Laser
Cleaning_, Cooper

Does anyone on BP have any experience with laser cleaning?

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