The measurement of the propulsion of metallic microdroplets exposed to nanosecond laser
pulses provides an elegant method for probing the ablation pressure in a dense laser-
produced plasma. We present the measurements of the propulsion velocity over three
decades in the driving Nd: YAG laser pulse energy and observe a near-perfect power law
dependence. Simulations performed with the RALEF-2D radiation-hydrodynamic code are
shown to be in good agreement with the power law above a specific threshold energy. The …