It is proposed that primary nucleation of amorphous microspherulites of hydrated silica in natural proto-precious-opal can be followed by a long range superlattice ordering process by means of electrostatic self-assembly. Necessary conditions in the
thermodynamics are a high surface charge density on microspherulite surfaces, a long Debye length and an appropriate number density of nucleation centres. A further chemical requirement is a high alkaline environmental pH from 9 to 10. It is also proposed that the characteristic concentric spherical shell-like structure of spherulites, centred on primary nuclei, are due to sequential deposition of intrinsic salts which precipitate out when the corresponding solubility limits in the liquid are successively exceeded. It can be that the better-known sedimentation of microspherulites under gravity only plays part in the final stabilization period of overall growth.
We discuss the effect of slow phase relaxation and the spin off-diagonal $S$-matrix correlations on the cross section energy oscillations and the time evolution of the highly excited intermediate systems formed in complex collisions. Such deformed in
termediate complexes with strongly overlapping resonances can be formed in heavy ion collisions, bimolecular chemical reactions and atomic cluster collisions. The effects of quasiperiodic energy dependence of the cross sections, coherent rotation of the hyperdeformed $simeq (3:1)$ intermediate complex, Schrodinger cat states and quantum-classical transition are studied for $^{24}$Mg+$^{28}$Si heavy ion scattering.
