A photothermal beam deflection technique is applied for the study of thermal diffusivity, phase transition, and laser ablation of solids. The measured thermal diffusivities are consistent and reasonably well agreed with the literature values. The measured phase transition temperatures for gadolinium molybdate [GMO, Gd2(MoO4)3] and tri-glycine sulfate [TGS, NH2CH2COOH)3.H2SO4] are in excellent agreement with the published values. We also applied this technique for the study of the laser ablation of stoichiometric high TcYBa2Cu3O7-x superconductors. The photothermal beam deflection due to the ablation produced plume is successfully separated from that due to the periodic heating of ambient gas. The laser fluence threshold for the photoablation and the some of the compositions of the ablation plume are determined from the spectroscopic measurements.