Abstract: A method and apparatus for laser marking of an article in which a pulsed, linearly polarized laser beam is passed through a stencil-type mask and imaged onto an article to be marked.In order to increase the overall transmission and hence the efficiency of the process, at least part of the laser beam energy which is reflected from the opaque parts of the mask is collected and redirected to the mask. The apparatus includes means for separating by beam polarization that portion of the laser radiation reflected by the opaque parts of the stencil and means for reflecting said portion of the radiation back to the stencil.