Composite materials made by metal clusters embedded in glass matrices are the object of studies for application in several fields. They exhibit striking optical properties, interesting for photonics application, as part of all-optical devices. Moreover, a significant enhancement of the fluorescence properties of rare earths-containing glasses is realized by the introduction of metal nanoclusters in the glass, whichs may exhibit also important magnetic properties and interesting properties in catalysis. Glass-based composites play an important role in nanotechnology application due to the low cost, ease of processing, high durability, resistance and high transparency. These glasses are also studied from more basic viewpoints, the dynamics of clusters nucleation and growth, their stability, and their structure in terms of composition, crystalline phase, size, and size distribution. A great effort has been made to develop novel preparation methods, for example, based on ion implantation techniques, irradiation techniques of metal-doped matrices, and chemical routes such as sol-gel. In particular, by means of the ion exchange technique, it is possible to dope silicate glasses with concentration values well beyond the solubility limit. Subsequent laser, ion or X beam irradiations may then promote in a controlled way the aggregation and the formation of nanoclusters. In this work, a review is presented on some of these novel combined methodologies for metal nanocluster glass camposites preparation, with special emphasis to those based on ion exchange routes.

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1. A solid-state route for the synthesis of metal nanocluster composite glasses
2. Silver Sensitized Er-doped Ion Exchanged Sol-gel Waveguides
3. Characterization of silicate glasses doped with transition metals by field-assisted ion exchange
4. Solid state silver ion exchange in Er:glass sol-gel films: an EXAFS study of the Er environment
5. Solid state field-assisted ion exchange for light waveguide application
6. Modelling the ion exchange process in glass: phenomenological approaches and perspectives