A doped polymer substrate is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. Photons are preferentially absorbed as thermal energy by a spherical portion of a polymethyl methacrylate sample. Once sufficient energy is absorbed to fragment the polymer-labeled cluster and cleave the residual polymer bonds, ejection of material occurs indicating ablation. The mechanism of ejection is analogous to our previous work where a dopant cluster was represented using a cluster of carbon atoms [P.F. Conforti, M. Prasad, B.J. Garrison, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 10 (2008) 6002]. This labeling procedure can serve as an approximate method to qualitatively explore the effects of different parameters without becoming consumed in the details of the simulation setup procedure. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.