A process for adjusting the energy of an imaging laser for imaging of a thermally
imageable element and thermally imageable elements suitable for this purpose are
described. The process comprises the steps of: (a) providing an imaging unit having
a non-imaging laser and an imaging laser, the non-imaging laser having a light
detector which is in communication with the imaging laser; (b) contacting a receiver
element with the thermally imageable element in the imaging unit, the thermally
imageable element comprising a thermally imageable layer on a front side of a base
element and a light attenuated layer on a back side of the base element comprising
a light attenuating agent; (c) actuating the non-imaging laser to expose the thermally
imageable element and the receiver element to an amount of light energy sufficient
for the light detector to detect the amount of light reflected from the light attenuated
layer of the thermally imageable element; and (d) actuating the imaging laser to
focus the imaging laser in order to expose the thermally imageable element to an
amount of light energy sufficient for imaging the thermally imageable element.
The light attenuation is achieved by use of a light attenuating agent or by physically
roughening a support.
