Recent advances of direct printing of compound microstructures by laser induced forward technique (LIFT) using a femtosecond UV laser will be presented. LIFT is a technique enabling the direct controlled transfer of thin film materials between substrates. An ultrashort UV laser has been used to transfer compound material (e.g. InOx) onto glass substrates in order to form optical diffractive structures. The LIFT process preserves the oxide's structural and physical properties. The use of laser-based methods in the fabrication of optically activated microstructures initiates new possible applications in the area of optoelectronics. Furthermore, time-resolved imaging of the plume produced by the femtosecond LIFT of InOx has been performed using an image intensified CCD (ICCD) camera in the time interval up to 2 mus after the laser pulse. The velocities of the emitted particles were measured to 400 m/s. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.