AbstractWe have conducted an experiment which measures the product population and kinetic energy (KE) distributions from the UV laser induced decomposition of crystalline Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2O8. We have measured these distributions at two laser wavelengths 248, 351. At a third wavelength (355 nm) we have measured the photoejected mass spectra from both a single crystal Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2O8 sample and a polycrystalline Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 sample. For all the experiments, the laser fluence is maintained near the threshold for ion formation. The laser fluences are well below the level for instigating a laser induced above surface plasma. Our results show that the ejected products are not the consequence of a laser surface evaporation process. We measure a wavelength dependence in the ejected species population distribution and the ejected kinetic energy distribution (< KE > = 5 ± 1 eV.2eV FWHM) is indicative of an electronic excitation process. The measured ion mass spectra show atomic, diatomic (e.g. Sr2+), and oxide (e.g. SrO+, CaO+) species with lesser quantities of the complex oxides (e.g. S2O+). Distinctly absent from the mass spectra are the oxide compounds BiO+, CuO+, and the atomic species O+. Furthermore, the mass spectrum shows that at 248 nm laser excitation, the Bi+ species is the abundant photopro-duct. However, for both the 351 nm and 355 nm excitations, the Sr+ and SrO+ ions are measured as more abundant. Also, comparing the 355 nm laser excitation of the single and polycrystalline samples, there is very little difference in the photoejected species mass spectrum.