A mechanical polishing technique is demonstrated for the effective removal of the interfacial region of a lead zirconate titanate thick film after laser transfer from a sapphire fabrication substrate. The laser-exposed interface originally in contact with sapphire, sintered at 1150 degrees C, was glass-like in appearance, consistent with melting being the principal de-lamination mechanism during a 15-ns single pulse of KrF laser radiation. The mechanical removal of the laser-generated, amorphous low-permittivity layer resulted in a decrease of the coercive field, from similar to 45 to similar to 30 kV/cm, with an increase in relative permittivity (100 Hz) from 350 to 780. Remnant polarisation was similar to 20 mu C/cm(2) in both sample types. The contribution of the laser-generated damage layer is modelled using a series two-capacitor circuit.