Glasses in the system (1-x)TeO2-x(1.5K(2)O-Li2O-2.5Nb(2)O(5)) (0.02 <= x <= 0.12 in mol fraction) were fabricated via the melt-quenching technique. The glassy nature of the as-quenched samples was established by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Nanocrystalline patterns (rows of crystallites) were created on the surface of these glasses by an excimer laser (lambda = 308 nm) irradiation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) confirmed the nanostructured nature and composition of the crystallites. X-ray diffraction (XRD) combined with transmission electron microscopic (TEM) studies proved the crystalline phase within and on the surface of the glass to be ferroelectric K3Li2Nb5O15. The second-order optical non-linearity (second harmonic generation, SHG) of the nanocrystallites measured by the Maker-Fringe method showed an improvement after exposing to laser radiation. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.