Unconventional optical materials based on glass

This paper discusses problems involved in a number of crucial aspects of th e material science of optical glasses. The paper presents the results of st udies of structural and phase transformations in glasses that contain semic onductor nanocrystals, along with results obtained when such heterogeneous systems are studied by the methods of nonlinear optics. Structural ordering effects of nanocrystals of beta eucryptite in astrositals are considered, and it is shown to be possible to use structural remodelings of the order-d isorder type in nanocrystals to obtain sitals with stable properties in the entire interval of operating temperatures. The paper discusses the data of a study of sol-gel synthesis of quartz glasses based on bimodal composite formulations of silica sols and aerosils, as well as obtaining c-SiO2 by re active vacuum-compression sintering, (C) 1998 The Optical Society of Americ a. [S1070-9762(98)00512-0].