Quantum dots made from II-VI and I-VII semiconductors and embedded in glasses have been investigated by means of linear and nonlinear optical methods. The different experiments cover the time range between a few tens of femtoseconds up to nanoseconds and seconds. The studies comprise the ultrashort phase relaxation times, the gain build-up and decay times, the one-and two-pair direct recombination times as well as the long-time range, which is dominated by trap processes.