We have studied about the thrust imparted to targets of different materials by pulsed TEA CO2 laser and chopped CW CO2 laser in air and its dependence on different parameters such as laser intensity and pulse duration. We estimated the impulse-coupling coefficient and compared it with the published results. The mechanism of generation of thrust by laser incident on targets in air is, in effect, combination of those involved in laser ablation in vacuum and laser-induced air detonation.
