A high power tunable continuous wave CO2 laser was used in the synthesis of ultrafine powders. Monodisperse silica powders in the nanometric range (30 nm) were produced via ultrasonic injection of aerosol droplets into the beam of the laser. The precursor used was tetraethoxysilane which strongly absorbs the CO2 laser radiation at 9.3 μm. The as-formed powders were amorphous and contained free carbon (20 wt%) which was easily oxidized in air at 600°C.