Patent ID: 8544376

Claim:
A transparent ballistic armor comprising: a hard face defining a front surface and a rear surface, said hard face fabricated from a glass-ceramic material comprising a glass phase and a crystalline phase, said hard face having a first refractive index, said crystalline phase and said glass phase occurring in a ratio such that said hard face is substantially transparent to visible light, said crystalline phase comprising a plurality of crystals having an average dimension sized such that said hard face is substantially transparent to visible light; and a backing layer substantially covering said rear surface of said hard face, said backing layer fabricated from a material that is substantially transparent to visible light, said backing layer having a second refractive index, said second refractive index being substantially equal to said first refractive index, wherein said hard face and said backing layer define a ballistic layer, wherein said transparent ballistic armor comprises a first ballistic layer and a second ballistic layer, so that each of said first ballistic layer and said second ballistic layer comprises a hard face and a backing layer, and wherein said second ballistic layer is separated from said first ballistic layer by a selected distance, so that there is a hollow space between said first ballistic layer and said second ballistic layer.