Abstract: A experiment of laser ablating aluminum target was conducted. A schlieren photography technique was employed for visualizing temporal evolution of detonation waves and analyzing detonation wave attenuation law. Based on similitude theory of shockwave motion, a point explosion model was used to describe detonation-wave evolution induced by laser ablating aluminum target. The propagation speed, pressure and temperature of the wave front were calculated. The results show that the detonation wave has a high speed towards laser source. The wave front transform from half-elliptical in early evolution stage into half-spherical. The disturbed zone has a complicated structure and multi-density discontinuities during the flow-field evolution. In the initial stage of detonation-wave propagation, the shockwave has a high pressure and temperature, but they decrease rapidly.