Nanopowders of two crystalline phases, magnesium-aluminum spinel (98 wt %), and cuprite (2 wt %) have been obtained by laser evaporation of a solid target, which is a mechanical mixture of simple oxides (MgO, Al_2O_3, CuO). These nanopowders have been used to prepare test samples of transparent Cu:MgAl_2O_4 ceramics, the IR transmission spectra of which revealed two new strong absorption bands at λ_1 ≈ 1.55 (1.45) μm and λ_2 ≈ 3.45 (3.03) μm, corresponding to transitions between the Stark levels ^2E( textt62 e^3) and ^2T_2 ( textt52 e^4) of Cu^2+ ions in octahedral and tetrahedral positions, respectively.