Ablation of atherosclerotic plaque and normal arterial wall was performed using a Xenon-Chloride Excimer laser with a wave-length of 308 nm and a pulse duration of 115 ns. The light was transmitted via a 600 microns bare fibre and adjusted to an energy density of 3.5J/cm2. The acoustic signals generated by the laser pulse were measured with two types of hydrophones consisting of polyvinylidenefluoride with active diameters of 0.3 mm and 0.5 mm and recorded on a dual channel digital storage oscilloscope using either a 0.5 m coaxial cable or a broadband fibre-optic transmission system. Tissue was retrieved from nine cadaver human aortas and macroscopically classified as either normal or calcified atherosclerotic plaque. Histological analysis (Haematoxylin eosin, elastica van Gieson, and immunohistochemical staining) was carried out after the experiments to verify the macroscopic diagnosis and to correlate the acoustic responses with the tissue characteristics. For normal arterial wall, maximum peak pressure was 1.28 MPa +/- 0.85 MPa, rise time 163 ns +/- 43 ns, and pressure increase 8.2k Pa +/- 5.4k Pa/ns. For calcified, atheromatous segments, a maximum peak pressure of 2.02 MPa +/- 1.16 MPa, a rise time of 69.9 ns +/- 25.8 ns, and a pressure increase of 32.3 kPa +/- 21.3 kPa/ns was found. Statistical analysis showed a significant shorter rise time (P < 0.0001) and a higher pressure increase (P < 0.0001) for calcified tissue in comparison to normal arterial wall, whereas maximum pressures alone did not allow a differentiation of tissue characteristics. Several hundred kPa are generated during Excimer laser ablation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)