one version of the embodiment shown in fig3 layer 102 is chemically formulated to undergo rapid thermal homolysis pyrolysis in response to the heat applied to the underside of layer 102 by energy absorbing layer 104 for example layer 102 may be or include as a primary polymer component a silicone block copolymer having a chemically labile species as one of the blocks in an exemplary approach the silicone block copolymer has an aba structure where the a blocks are long functionally e g vinyldimethyl terminated polysiloxane chains and the b block is an acrylic e g a short polymethylmethacrylate chain a suitable chemical formula is this material is easily thermally degraded undergoing chemical transformations that discourage re adhesion to underlying layer 104 in another version layer 102 is a hydrophilic polymer such as polyvinyl alcohol e g the airvol 125 or 165 material supplied by air products allentown pa it may in some cases be desirable to utilize a surface layer that cannot easily be modified to avoid reattachment to an underlying layer alternatively it may be desirable to utilize as a substrate an unmodified metal layer that would fail to heat sufficiently in response to low power high speed imaging pulses in either case as shown in fig4 the plate construction 110 includes a substrate 115 a surface layer 117 and an intermediate layer 120 that irreversibly detaches either from layer 115 or layer 117 in response to an imaging pulse in the former case post imaging cleaning removes layers.