## 1 Introduction  
In recent years, laser processing techniques have gained significant attention in various industrial applications, including laser cutting, welding, drilling, brazing, and surface modification [1; 2; 3; 4]. Laser cutting, which is a \"subtractive\" digital manufacturing method, employs a laser to focus a considerable amount of energy onto an extremely small region in order to cut or engrave a material [5; 6]. Laser cutting can be used on a wide range of materials, such as cardboard, wood, plastic, and textiles [7], and it uses optics to concentrate the output of a powerful laser on a small portion of the workpiece. As a result, the material is melted, burned, vaporized, impressed using a jet of gas, or otherwise removed, leaving behind a superior surface polish. Laser cutting can cut through materials up to 20 mm thick, depending on the laser's power [7; 8; 9]. One polymer that has recently received considerable attention due to its superior chemical, physical, and mechanical properties is polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), a synthetic thermoplastic polymer that is reasonably priced [10]. PMMA has been widely used in various applications, such as automotive, dental equipment, bone tissue, sensors, electronics, solar cells, and photodetectors [11]. The laser cutting of polymers, including PMMA, has attracted a lot of interest due to its high product quality, fast cutting speed, and high reliability [12]. The three main process variables in laser cutting are laser beam power, transverse laser speed, and supporting gas pressure. PMMA sheets have been previously sliced with a CO\({}_{2}\) laser (with a wavelength of 10.64 \(\upmu\)m) [13; 14], as the molecular structure of PMMA works as an opaque medium with a high absorption of laser energy. The low thermal diffusivity (7 \(\times\) 10\({}^{-7}\) m\({}^{2}\)/s) and low sublimation point (300 \({}^{\circ}\)C) of PMMA, in addition to its superior absorptivity, improve the cutting process's precision and shorten the cutting time. A PMMA sheet absorbs energy, which is transformed into heat, causing the material to sublimate instantly. The material then evaporates and is evacuated using an aiding gas. Due to the short heating cycle and limited thermal diffusivity of PMMA during the laser cutting process, the temperature in the irradiated zone rises quickly, forming a heat-affected zone (HAZ) with altered mechanical characteristics in and around the cutting zone. Laser technology has shown promise in various manufacturing processes, such as metal deposition, welding, and cutting [15; 16; 17]. Laser cutting offers several advantages over other conventional and unconventional cutting processes, such as turning, wire cutting, abrasive fluid jet, plasma, and ultrasonic, in cutting metallic and non-metallic materials [18; 19]. These advantages include a high rate of speed, a good cut quality, a suitable kerf width and HAZ, and the absence of tool wear [20]. Laser cutting has even been successfully used to cut dangerous materials like the uranium dioxide pellets used in nuclear reactors [21]. Previous studies have explored the precision of the HAZ and kerf geometry when cutting different materials using laser cutting technology. For instance, [PERSON] et al. [22] studied the impact of pulse frequency and width, lamp current, cutting speed, and four other distinct laser cutting process parameters on the HAZ and kerf geometry when cutting 6061-T6 aluminum sheets using a Nd-YAG laser. The pulse frequency was found to have the greatest impact on the cutting process out of all the process variables studied. [PERSON] et al. [23] examined the kerf width fluctuation in the CO\({}_{2}\) laser cutting of steel 304 and found that the percentage of contribution of input parameters like laser power has more effects on the angle of the kerf. Response surface methodology (RSM) serves as a powerful statistical and mathematical framework in the realm of experimental design and optimization [24; 25].