Physical fundamentals of ultrashort femtosecond lasers are addressed along with emerging applications for precision manufacturing and metrology. Femtosecond lasers emit short pulses whose temporal width is in the range of less than a picosecond to a few femtoseconds, thereby enabling extremely high peak-power machining with less thermal damages. Besides, the broad spectral bandwidth of femtosecond lasers constructed in the form of frequency comb permits absolute distance measurements leading to ultraprecision positioning control and dimensional metrology.