Photothermal generation of thermal waves was used in combination with the probe beam deflection technique to study the thermal diffusivity of functionally graded materials (FGMs) quantitatively. An amplitude modulated Ar ion laser was used as a heat source and the HeNe probe laser was reflected from the specimen surface at almost normal incidence. It is demonstrated that this measuring technique can be used for a precise determination of the thermal diffusivity for a wide variety of materials if appropriate measuring conditions are chosen. The precision of the thermal diffusivity measurement was better than 5% for all materials studied. The achieved spatial resolution of the thermal diffusivity measurement was about 100 mum, but higher spatial resolutions can be achieved if necessary. In a graded Al2O3/Al composite local fluctuations of the thermal diffusivity were observed due to the coarseness of the microstructure, but the overall behaviour of the thermal conductivity could be described well by the Maxwell-Eucken relationship. In a functionally graded AlCu alloy, a smooth thermal diffusivity profile was observed in the region where the alloy consisted of a solid solution of Cu in Al. (C) 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers.