Universidade De Vigo

Esther Rebollar Gonzalez

Pio Manuel Gonzalez Fernandez

Betty Mireya Leon Fong

Stefano Chiussi

Julia De La Asuncion Serra Rodriguez

Aldara Pan Cabo

Disclosed embodiments include methods for cleaning wax, substantially equivalent impurities, and other contaminants from porous stones in historical monuments and artworks using nondestructive means. According to one embodiment the method for removal of contaminants from porous stones using laser comprises the following method steps: (a) identifying regions of a contaminant on the porous stone monument; (b) characterizing the contaminant on the porous stone monument; (c) exposing the contaminant on the porous stone monument to irradiation from a laser characterized by a wavelength, a pulse length, a repetition rate, and a laser energy fluence determined and optimized for a given contaminant-porous stone system and the laser characteristics; and (d) adaptively evaluating the cleaning results by quantifying the thickness of the remaining contaminant.

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Vigo, Spain

Esther Rebollar Gonzalez