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The thermoconvective flow induced in oil samples and oil-in-water emulsions by irradiation with a laser beam is studied experimentally. The samples are irradiated by He-Ne and CO2 lasers at different power levels. Time-resolved records of temperature and surface waves that propagate in a liquid surface are presented. In laser-heated emulsions the thermoconvective flow leads the dispersed oil droplets to the water-free surface where they agglomerate to form a floating oil layer. The reflected light beam is formed by a speckle pattern whose intensity and contrast show a spiking, quasi-periodic time variation. A theoretical model is proposed to explain this phenomenon.