Laser-induced material processing is reviewed with special emphasis on recent achievements mainly obtained by the Linz group. Among those are investigations using optical fiber tips for nanoscale photophysical etching, the pulsed-laser deposition of thin films of high-temperature superconductors (HTSs) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and the laser cleaning of surfaces. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.