Cleaning of artificially soiled paper using nanosecond, picosecond and femtosecond laser pulses

Cleaning of cultural assets, especially fragile organic materials like paper, is a part of the conservation process. Laser radiation as a non-contact tool offers prospects for that purpose. For the studies presented here, paper model samples were prepared using three different paper types (pure cellulose, rag paper, and wood-pulp paper). Pure cellulose serves as reference material. Rag and wood-pulp paper represent essential characteristics of the basic materials of real-world artworks. The papers were mechanically soiled employing pulverized charcoal. Pure and artificially soiled paper samples were treated with laser pulses of 28 fs (800 nm wavelength) and 8-12 ns (532 nm) duration in a multi pulse approach. Additionally, the cellulose reference material was processed with 30 ps (532 nm) laser pulses. Damage and cleaning thresholds of pure and soiled paper were determined for the different laser regimes. Laser working ranges allowing for removal of contamination and avoiding permanent modification to the substrate were found. The specimens prior and after laser illumination were characterized by light-optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) as well as multi spectral imaging analysis. The work extends previous nanosecond laser cleaning investigations on paper into the ultra-short pulse duration domain.