Abstract: Pulsed laser parameters and mode of action with the matter are crucial to the damage process and damage identification of thin film materials. The effect of changing the incidence angle of a pulsed laser with a wavelength of 1064 nm and a pulse width of 10 ns on the damage morphology of single-layer HfO₂ film was studied. The COMSOL was used to simulate the changes in the temperature field and the spot shape of the film surface when the laser interacted with the film at different incidence angles. The 1-on-1 measurement method was selected, and the incidence angles of 0°, 30°, 45° and 60° were selected to test the sample film, and the damage morphology of the film at various incident angles was obtained, which was characterized by an optical microscope. After analyzing and comparing the experimental observation results with the simulation results, it can be seen that under the same laser power condition, with the increase of the laser incident angle, the light spot image on the surface of the film gradually becomes elliptical spot, the maximum temperature of the spot center decreases, and the longitudinal and transverse sizes of the damage spot become larger, the transverse dimensions change especially rapidly, the damage area of the film becomes larger, the maximum depth of the damage becomes shallow, the laser damage threshold increases, and the anti-laser damage becomes stronger.