The laser ablation of crystalline and ceramic Al2O3 and aluminium metal targets in a low pressure oxygen environment has been studied as a first step in the investigation of alternative routes to the ablation-deposition (LAD) of thin film Ti:sapphire. The different targets were ablated using both ultraviolet (193 nm ArF) and infrared (10.6 μm CO2) pulsed lasers with deposition on Si substrates at room and elevated temperatures. Preliminary characterisation of the deposited films indicates that optimisation of the processing parameters is likely to result in successful deposition by these alternative routes. © 1997

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