The fracture mechanisms of Hg0.8Cd0.2Te induced by pulsed TEA-CO2 laser have been investigated theoretically and experimentally in this paper. The Hg0.8Cd0.2Te target was irradiated by a TEA-CO2 laser with wavelength of 10.6 mu m and spike width of 240 ns in an ambient atmosphere. The evident cracks can be found on the surface of the target from the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) photos, indicating that the severe breaks happened during the experiment. Theoretical analysis has also been carried out and the results show that the fracture of Hg0.8Cd0.2Te is mainly induced by thermal stresses, although there are three forces (thermal stress, evaporation wave and laser-supported detonation (LSD) wave) exerted on the target surface during the process. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V.