This text aims at providing a comprehensive and up to date treatment of the new and rapidly expanding field of laser pro- cessing of thin films, particularly, though by no means exclu- sively, of recent progress in the dielectrics area. The volume covers all the major aspects of laser processing technology in general, from the background and history to its many potential applications, and from the theory to the necessary experimental considerations. It highlights and compares the vast array of processing conditions now available with intense photon beams, as well as the properties of the...