This effect was later proven to be responsible for the creation of the keyhole by Andrews and Atthey (1976). Anisimov (1968) gave an initial formulation of this recoil momentum for continuous laser power. When the material temperature is high enough, vapor is ejected from the melt pool and induces a momentum on the material, as it was first shown experimentally by Neuman (1964) and Gregg and Thomas (1966) with laser pulses. Ablation is a phenomenon that happens in many laser processes and could explain this knowledge gap. To get a better understanding of the mechanisms, basic physical effects need to be considered. Thus, it is essential to understand how the laser beam interacts with the flight of the material. Depending on the laser beam’s position and angle, it can act directly on the droplets. In this scenario, remote cutting was used to push the melt down the cut front with the laser beam before it breaks up into droplets, as it was demonstrated by Samarjy and Kaplan (2017). Moreover, Kaplan and Samarjy (2017) demonstrated that it is possible to create an additive manufactured track from a stream of droplets detaching from a cut front of a waste sheet. This phenomenon is also likely to happen in laser-arc hybrid welding when drops detach in the direction of the laser beam. Therefore, it is essential to work towards a better understanding of the underlying effects involved in the drop detachment as well as in the drop trajectory when it is affected by the laser beam. However, no explanation of the physical phenomena between the laser irradiation and the drop dynamics is available. These studies were carried out on the detachment of metal drops from a wire with a lateral laser beam, and on their attachment on a substrate. It was shown that the coating thickness affected the heat transfer during the wetting, and that the zinc coating was removed and accumulated at the weld toe of the drops. AlSi12 droplets impinged upon steel substrates with different zinc coatings, and a pyrometer was used to measure the drops’ temperatures during their fall. The wetting behavior of droplets impacting a substrate was investigated by Gatzen et al. In addition, LDG has been used for basic studies to investigate liquid–solid material interactions. Different detachment regimes and oscillation modes were identified in the hanging droplets, depending on the laser pulse frequency, namely: vertical mass spring like mode, 2–0 Rayleigh normal like mode, and 3–0 Rayleigh normal like mode. (2014), where an infrared camera was used to observe the velocity and the formation of the drops. This detachment technique was studied in depth by Kuznetsov et al. A high-power laser beam pulse was used to detach the drops after their generation. The heat-affected zone was found to be narrower than when directly using a wire as a filler. (2009) showed that it is possible to detach silver and nickel droplets from a wire for adding material into the melt pool during laser welding. Brüning and Vollertsen (2015) developed this technique without drop detachment to form a specific shape at the end of an austenitic steel rod. LDG has been used in several studies for different applications. The drop’s volume can be controlled by the process strategy to produce the desired molten volume and detach it by gravity or external forces. When melting the end of a wire with a laser beam, the surface tension forces the molten material into a spherical drop. It can also be called drop on demand in the case of a periodic process. Laser drop generation (LDG) is a technique which involves generating liquid drops from a metal wire or rod using a laser. In addition, two different vaporization regimes were observed, resulting respectively in a vapor plume and in a vapor halo around the drop. The recoil pressure was found to be the main driving effect but other phenomena counteract this acceleration and reduce it by an order of magnitude of one to two. The contributions of the vapor pressure, the recoil pressure, and the radiation pressure were investigated. Accelerations up to 11.2 g could be measured. High-speed imaging was used to measure the position of the drops and calculate their acceleration to compare it to theoretical models. Two materials were studied: 316L steel and AlSi5 aluminium alloy. This fundamental study aims at investigating the effects of a continuous power laser beam on the acceleration of intentionally detached drops and unintentionally detached spatters. Also, many laser processes such as laser welding or additive manufacturing generate spatters that can be accelerated by the laser beam during flight and create defects on the material. These techniques imply that the drops enter the laser beam, which might affect their trajectory. Different processes require the detachment of metal drops from a solid material using a laser beam as the heat source, for instance laser drop generation or cyclam.