Prospects of sol-gel technology towards luminescent materials

Sol-gel method for producing glasses or glass films at relatively low tempe rature allows incorporation of a large number of inorganic and organic addi tives during the process of glass formation. We outline some of the sophist icated products and devices obtained by the set-gel method. Luminescence so lar concentrators, tunable lasers in the visible part of the spectrum, acti ve waveguides, semiconductor particles and sensors for environmental impuri ties. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.