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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2011
Ion implantation has become a versatile and powerful technique forsynthesizing nanometer-scale clusters and crystals embedded in thenear-surface region of a variety of hosts. The resulting nanocompositematerials often show unique optical, magnetic, and electronic properties.Here we review some of the principal features of this nanophase materialssynthesis technique and discuss the outstanding experimental difficultiesthat currently hamper the development of devices based on the many uniqueproperties of these nanocomposite materials. Possible solutions to theseproblems and future research directions are discussed.