most lasers accept dxf files and you assign a shape a colour and layer so you can easily define what was going on. then when you prep it for laser cutting you assign a particular layer a depth (through cut, light etch, heavy etch etc)
illustrator can export as a dxf but I would check in drawing package as it normally won't maintain the same layers in the software transfer.
Draftsight offers a free cad package to trial and use to prep your files.
