Irradiation of metals with laser pulses in the nanosecond to picosecond range may give rise to temperature fields which are significantly different from those predicted by the classical Fourier heat conduction model. In this work we examine the very short‐time temperature response of a semi‐infinite region to an axisymmetric laser surface source, which is either continuous or activated for a period &Dgr;tand has a spatial profile which is Gaussian, doughnut, or a combination of the Gaussian and doughnut modes. The material properties are assumed constant, and radiation and convection from the irradiated surface are neglected. The non‐Fourier temperature responses are compared with their diffusive counterparts and shown to give rise to steep local temperature concentrations.