We describe the synthesis of nano-structured materials of ZnO and Pd by laser ablation and their applications to sensors. The synthesis of ZnO nano-wires was performed by nano-particle assisted deposition (NPAD) where nano-crystals were grown with nano-particles generated by laser-ablating a ZnO sintered target in an Ar background gas. The synthesized ZnO nano-wires were characterized with a scanning electron microscopy and the photoluminescent characteristics were examined under an excitation with the third harmonics of a Nd:YAG laser. The nano-wires with a diameter in the range from 50 to 150 nm and a length of up to 5 mu m were taken out of the substrate by laser blow-off technique and/or sonication. It was confirmed that the nano-wires showed the stimulated emission under optical pumping, indicating a high quality of the crystalinity. Pd nanoparticles were generated by laser-ablating a Pd plate in pure water. The transmission electron microscope observation revealed that Pd nanoparticles with a diameter in the range from 3 nm to several tens of nanometers were produced. Using these nano-structured materials, we successfully fabricated sensors by the dielectrophoresis techniques. In the case of the ultraviolet photosensor, a detection sensitivity of 10 nW/cm(2) was achieved and in the case of hydrogen sensing, the response time of less than 10 s has been demonstrated with Pd nano-particles. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.