Traditionally, new materials were developed in response to the requriements of emerging technology. Up to very recently, glasses have been prepared by melting their components at very high temperatures. This has limited the use of additives, such as colorants, to those inorganic compounds which can resist these very high temperatures. The ability to use only inorganic additives has been a severe limitation because of the vast majority of known chemicals being organic materials; these materials will decompose at a few hundred degrees. For instance, organic dyes could not have been used. In this paper the author states he has found a solution to this issue and states it is now feasible to incorporate organic molecules within an inorganic oxide glass.
