The paper presents some recent developments in sensor technology for o
n-line diagnostics and control of laser materials processing. The resu
lts focus on three topics e.g. pyrometric temperature measurements and
on-line output power control of cw-lasers quality control using diffe
rential reflectometry short time detection techniques for process moni
toring of laser beam interaction with materials during short (50 ns) a
nd intense (MW/cm2 to GW/cm2) laser pulses.