Patent ID: 7802450

Claim:
A process for producing an organic-inorganic hybrid glassy material, the process comprising the sequential steps of: producing a gel body by a sol-gel method in which at least one kind of a silicon alkoxide containing a phenyl group is used as a sol-gel raw material, and in which only an acid is used as a catalyst of the sol-gel method; drying the gel body to obtain a dry gel; melting the dry gel by heating at a temperature of from 100° C. to 300° C. into a melt; and aging the melt at a temperature of from 30° C. to 400° C. for a period of time of 5 minutes or longer, wherein a structure of the gel body contains a unit represented by the formula Ph n SiO (4−n)/2 , where Ph represents a phenyl group and n represents a natural number selected from 1, 2 and 3.