The stress‐free thermal strain corresponding to the temperature rise induced in a target by an incident laser pulse constitutes a volume source of ultrasound. In the present work, the appropriate point‐source representation is derived by starting from a general representation theorem for volume sources. A formal solution for the double (Hankel–Laplace) transform of the displacement potentials is obtained for axially symmetric configurations, with the point‐source lying within or on the surface of a half‐space or a plate. The Cagniard‐de Hoop technique is used to invert these double transforms. For the source on the surface of a half‐space, detailed results are presented for the wave‐front expansions, the displacement along the axis of symmetry and on the surface, the directivity pattern, and the partition of energy between longitudinal, transverse, and surface waves. For the source within or on the surface of a plate, only the epicentral displacement is considered in detail.