Abstract: When a body is irradiated by a beam of high-intensity pulsed laser, a reversed impulse will be generated on its surface, and at the same time, a shock wave will be formed and propagate inside the body. This paper proposes a formula to estimate the pressure on the surface, and the impulse coupling coefficients are obtained for aluminum and polyester targets. The propagation images of the shock wave and their relation with the pulse width of the laser are analyzed.