Ion implantation and thermal annealing have been used to produce a wide range of nanocrystals and quantum dots in amorphous (SiO2) and crystalline (AI2O3) matrices. Nanocrystals of metals (Au), elemental semiconductors (Si and Ge), and even compound semiconductors (SiGe, CdSe, CdS) have been produced. In amophous matrices, the nanocrystals are randomly oriented, but in crystalline matrices they are three dimensionally aligned. Evidence for photoluminescence and quantum confinement effects are presented.