An overview of several topics studied in our group will be presented. Namely, it will be discussed: (i) The optically induced insulator-to-metal transition in LaCoO3 probed by femtosecond ellipsometry. We will present data and analysis of the pump-induced insulator-to-metal transition, propagation of strain pulses and thermal diffusion in LaCoO3 films. (ii) The strain-induced ferromagnetism in LaCoO3 films and related transfer of optical spectral weight and (iii) 3D to 2D crossover of antiferromagnetic order in LaFeO3-SrTiO3 superlattices observed by low-energy muon spin rotation. In the latter, the 2D magnetic case is approached in the series of superlattices with 3, 2, and 1 unit cell thin LaFeO3 layers.