The microphone technique has been applied to the study of laser ablation of a silicon target. The momentum flux of silicon atoms generated by laser ablation at 266 nm was detected both at high vacuum and at background gas conditions. The response of the microphone to an atomic pulse of a few &mgr;s was in agreement with theoretical expectations. The magnitude of the microphone signal increased linearly with laser fluence. A pulsed valve was adopted to also compare the response of the microphone at longer pulse durations. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.