To investigate the formation mechanism of residual stress holes on 7050 aluminum alloy sheet sample under laser shock, the 7050 aluminum alloy samples are shocked by laser with the power densities of 1.98 GW/cm² and 2.77 GW/cm², respectively. The finite element analysis software ANSYS/LS-DYNA is applied to simulating the sheet samples shocked by the laser with the power density of 1.98 GW/cm². The distributions of residual stress on the thin plate and thick plate samples are analyzed by the X-ray stress analyzer, the dynamic strain of the samples shocked by laser is measured with the piezoelectric thin film sensor, and the surface microstructures on the shocked areas are observed through a three-dimensional microscopy system. The experimental results show that the residual stress holes on the 7050 aluminum alloy sheet samples can be caused by the laser shock with the power densities of 1.98 GW/cm² and 2.77 GW/cm². Under reflecting boundary conditions, the simulation results agree well with the experimental data, which indicates that the gathering of the rarefaction waves to the center of the light spot is the major reason for occurrence of the residual stress holes. Through analyzing the distribution of residual stress and dynamic strain, the influence of the shock waves reflected back and forth in the samples on the residual stress holes cannot be ignored. The thicknesses of the central areas of the thin and thick plate samples are 10.800 μm and 8.150 μm thicker than those of their surrounding areas respectively after the samples are shocked by laser with power density of 2.77 GW/cm². The residual stress holes on sample surfaces are caused by the joint effect of rarefaction waves and laser shock waves.