Inorganic solid state optical materials:: Major recent advances

Major advances have recently been made concerning the optical properties of solid-state materials. Four notable areas of research are: upconversion and downconversion luminescence, new high-efficiency scintillator materials, and photonic band gap materials or photonic crystals. Each of these research fields has contributed greatly to our basic understanding of solid-state optical materials as well as contributing to applied research. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All fights reserved.