Application of powerful submicrosecond ion beams for the synthesis and modification of material properties is reviewed. Powerful ion beams originally developed for inertial thermonuclear fusion have been increasingly widely used over last 30 years as a high-power pulsed heating source that provides ample opportunities for modifying the surface layer of materials. By varying key parameters of the beams, such as the co-mposition (type of ions), the accelerating pulse duration of (10 ns–1 μs), the kinetic energy of ions (0.1–1 MeV), the energy density inputted by the beam to the target surface per pulse (0.1–50 J/cm²), the main areas of application of intense ion beams in materials science have been determined: modification of the surface layer by ultrafast quenching, melting and ultrafast recrystallization with the formation of micro- and nanostructures, pulsed implantation of ions accompanied by exposure to energy factors, deposition of thin films, and synthesis of nanosized powders from ablative plasma.