A sealed, passively pumped, polycrystalline ceramic vacuum chamber and method for fabricating the chamber are disclosed. The body of the vacuum chamber is made from a polycrystalline ceramic, for example, alumina. The vacuum chamber includes one or more windows made from a transparent ceramic, for example, sapphire, to accommodate optical access, while remaining amorphous-glass free to minimize or eliminate helium permeation. The vacuum chamber components are joined via laser welding or furnace brazing and the completed chamber is bakeable at temperatures up to 400° C. The vacuum chamber can operate at high or ultra-high vacuum pressures for an extended period through the use of one or more getter-based pumps. The vacuum chamber may include one or more atomic sources depending upon the application.

Provided is a glass material less likely to cause inconveniences, such as crystallization and the generation of devitrified matters, while holding desired optical properties. A glass material having a refractive index of 1.8 or more and a content of Al.sub.2O.sub.3 of over 0 to 500 ppm.

A glass article contains: in mol %, more than 0% to 70% of La.sub.2O.sub.3, 0% to 80% of B.sub.2O.sub.3, 0% to 40% of SiO.sub.2, 0% to 80% of B.sub.2O.sub.3+Al.sub.2O.sub.3+SiO.sub.2, 0% to 85% of Gd.sub.2O.sub.3+Ga.sub.2O.sub.3+Y.sub.2O.sub.3+Yb.sub.2O.sub.3+ZrO.sub.2+TiO.sub.2+Nb.sub.2O.sub.5+Ta.sub.2O.sub.5+WO.sub.3, 0% to 15% of MgO+CaO+SrO+BaO, 0% to 35% of ZnO, and more than 0% to 5% of CuO.

Methods of manufacturing a glass-based article includes exposing a glass-based substrate having a lithium aluminosilicate composition to an ion exchange treatment to form the glass-based article. The ion exchange treatment including a molten salt bath having a concentration of a sodium salt in a range from 8 mol % to 100 mol %. The glass-based article includes sodium having a non-zero varying concentration extending from a surface of the glass-based article to a depth of the glass-based article The glass-based article has compressive stress layer extending from the surface to a spike depth of layer from 4 micrometers to 8 micrometers. The glass-based article includes a molar ratio of potassium oxide (K.sub.2O) to sodium oxide (Na.sub.2O) averaged over a distance from the surface to a depth of 0.4 micrometers that is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 1.8.

Provided is a method of producing a manufactured object including forming the manufactured object by performing, once or a plurality of times, a step of forming a powder layer from material powders containing powders of an inorganic compound and a step of irradiating a predetermined region of a surface of the powder layer with an energy beam and thereby fusing/solidifying the material powders. In the step of fusing/solidifying the material powders, an amorphous-rich region and a crystalline-rich region are formed separately by changing at least one of an output of the energy beam, a relative position between the surface of the powder layer and a focus of the energy beam, and a scanning rate.

A glass composition includes, as main content components, by mass %, a TeO.sub.2 content percentage of 50% to 80%, a Bi.sub.2O.sub.3 content percentage of 0% to 30%, a WO.sub.3 content percentage of 0% to 30%, a ZnO content percentage of 0% to 30%, a BaO content percentage of 0% to 30%, a GeO.sub.2 content percentage of 0% to 30%, and a Ga.sub.2O.sub.3 content percentage of 0% to 30%, wherein at least any one of additive target elements is introduced, the additive target elements including, Si.sup.4+ of 1 mg/kg to 1,500 mg/kg, B.sup.3+ of 1 mg/kg to 1,500 mg/kg, P.sup.5+ of 1 mg/kg to 1,500 mg/kg, Li.sup.+ of 1 mg/kg to 1,500 mg/kg, Na.sup.+ of 1 mg/kg to 1,500 mg/kg, K.sup.+ of 1 mg/kg to 1,500 mg/kg, Mg.sup.2+ of 1 mg/kg to 1,500 mg/kg, Ca.sup.2+ of 1 mg/kg to 1,500 mg/kg, Al.sup.3+ of 1 mg/kg to 1,500 mg/kg, and Sr.sup.2+ of 1 mg/kg to 1,500 mg/kg.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a lead-free glass composition in which crystallization is suppressed and which has a low softening point. This lead-free glass composition is characterized by containing silver oxide, tellurium oxide and vanadium oxide, and further containing at least one compound selected from among yttrium oxide, lanthanum oxide, cerium oxide, erbium oxide, ytterbium oxide, aluminum oxide, gallium oxide, indium oxide, iron oxide, tungsten oxide and molybdenum oxide as an additional component, and in that the content values (mol %) of silver oxide, tellurium oxide and vanadium oxide satisfy the relationships Ag.sub.2O>TeO.sub.2V.sub.2O.sub.5 and Ag.sub.5O2V.sub.2O.sub.5 when calculated in terms of the oxides, and in that the content of TeO.sub.2 is 25-37 mol. %.

A glass ceramic containing lithium-ions and having a garnet-like main crystal phase having an amorphous proportion of at least 5% is disclosed. The garnet-like main crystal phase preferably has the chemical formula Li.sub.7+xyM.sub.x.sup.IIM.sub.3x.sup.IIIM.sub.2y.sup.IVM.sub.y.sup.VO.sub.12, wherein M.sup.II is a bivalent cation, M.sup.III is a trivalent cation, M.sup.IV is a tetravalent cation, M.sup.V is a pentavalent cation. The glass ceramic is prepared by a melting technology preferably within a Skull crucible and has an ion conductivity of at least 5.Math.10.sup.5 S/cm, preferably of at least 1.Math.10.sup.4 S/cm.

Glass-based articles comprise stress profiles providing improved scratch resistance. A glass-based article comprises a lithium aluminosilicate composition and a molar ratio of potassium dioxide (K.sub.2O) to sodium dioxide (Na.sub.2O) averaged over a distance from the surface to a depth of 0.4 micrometers that is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 1.8. The article comprises sodium having a non-zero varying concentration extending from a surface of the glass-based article to a depth of the glass-based article and a spike depth of layer that is greater than or equal to 4 micrometers and less than or equal to 8 micrometers. The article may comprise an average compressive stress of greater than or equal to 150 MPa over a depth from 15 micrometers to 40 micrometers.

The present invention relates to a glass, in particular a glass for joining glass panes in order to produce vacuum insulated glasses at processing temperatures of 450 C., to the corresponding composite glass, and to the corresponding glass paste. The present invention further relates to a vacuum insulated glass produced by means of the glass paste according to the invention, to the production process thereof, and to the use of the glass according to the invention or of the composite glass and of the glass paste. The glass according to the invention is characterized in that said glass comprises the following components in wt %: TeO.sub.2V.sub.2O.sub.5 glass in the range of 60-100 wt %, high temperature glasses, selected from the group consisting of lead glass, bismuth glass, zinc glass, barium glass, calcium glass, alkali silicate glass, in the range of 0-20 wt %, and reactive oxides, selected from the group consisting of Al.sub.2O.sub.3, Y.sub.2O.sub.3, La.sub.2O.sub.3, ZnO, Bi.sub.2O.sub.3, SiO.sub.2, ZrO.sub.2, zircon, Nb.sub.2O.sub.5, V.sub.2O.sub.5, TeO.sub.2, CeO.sub.2, SnO, SnO.sub.2, FeO, MnO, Cr.sub.2O.sub.3, CoO, oxide pigments, or a combination thereof, in the range of 0-20 wt %.