Methods to prepare oriented and ordered structures by glass crystallization are described. Oriented glass ceramics can be obtained by three different routes: the thermodynamically controlled crystallization by attaching a magnetic or electric field, the kinetically controlled crystallization by nucleating a melt solely in a small volume of the sample e.g. at the surface or at an electrode inserted into the melt. The third method is the mechanical deformation of the melt which might be partially crystalline. Numerous examples for materials produced by the two latter methods are given. Furthermore, further two methods to prepare ordered structures are described. First, hetero-expitaxial growth of a crystalline phase on an already oriented phase enables the preparation of cross-wire oriented structures. Attaching a stationary ultra-sonic wave to a partially crystalline melt results in periodical arrangement of layers in which the crystalline phase occurs.
