In the Department of optical materials the technologies of preparation of the bulk and thin film material systems, perspective for optical applications, are under development. To characterize these materials and other ones obtained in the framework of external collaborations quite several experimental techniques from the field of optical, magnetic and photoelectron spectroscopies are used. Apart from technological and experimental activities there are also theoretical investigations in the department. Namely, they include the nucleation processes, phase transitions and also the kinetic models of luminescence phenomena.