In present work the influence of doping by rare-earth elements and transitional metals on thermal, optical, structural and magnetic properties of chalcogenide glasses and application of such media and composite structures on their base for production of optical elements was studied. Also in recent time the development of various polymer media and different composites and their application as registering media, in photovoltaics, LED’s fabrication is actively studied. Another part of this report is devoted to the use of the carbazole-containing polymer thin films as recording media for production of holographic diffraction gratings. Thermal properties (Tg values for undoped and doped chalcogenide glasses) were studied using DSC technique. Activation energy of glass transition was estimated with the use of Kissinger’s expression. With the increase of doping level of As2S3 glasses glass transition temperature is decreased and also activation energy of glass transition is decreased. Structural studies were carried with the use of Raman and infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Radial electron distribution functions in doped and undoped bulk glasses were obtained and analyzed. In Raman spectra, main observed effect under the introduction of dopants was the change of relative concentration of main and non-stoichiometric structural units characteristic for As2S3 and As2Se3 glasses. Introduction of dopants also changed optical and luminescent properties of glasses. Pure chalcogenide glasses are diamagnetics. Introduction of transition metals or rare-earth elements changed magnetic properties of investigated chalcogenide glasses. In DC magnetic field dependencies of mass magnetization M=M(T) for doped glasses were observed which are characteristic for paramagnetics and ferromagnetics in paramagnetic region of temperatures  and described by Curie-Weiss law. Also properties can be changed by creation of different composite structures: organic-inorganic or inorganic-inorganic composites (using various chalcogenide glasses and polymers).   Optical elements can be fabricated using thin films of chalcogenide glasses with selective etching after exposure. Such technologies provide diffraction efficiency values for surface relief gratings close to the theoretical ones. Recording of holographic diffraction gratings is also possible using thin polymer carbazole-containing thin films after exposure and selective etching. AFM microscopy-assisted investigations of surface morphology of the obtained films have shown good quality of the surface. Obtained diffraction efficiency values were ~20%. Different optical elements were fabricated using composite chalcogenide nanomultilayer structures based on As40S60–Se, Ge5As37S58–Se and As40S60:Mn–Se. AFM studies have shown good quality of the obtained surface relief of gratings. Process of surface relief formation depended on the polarization of recording light beams. Local magnetic properties of gratings surface relief obtained using As40S60:Mn–Se nanomultilayer structure were studied using gradient magnetic force microscopy (MFM). AFM and MFM images has shown that small periodical relief thickness changes lead to the essential fluctuations of magnetic field value over the relief surface. Thus, for the first time possibility of direct one-step magnetic relief formation using As40S60:Mn–Se composite nanomultilayer structures was shown. The research was supported by the project FP–7 SECURE–R21