Spectroscopic study of Yb doped oxide crystals for intrinsic optical bistability

In search for intrinsic optical bistability in solid-state optical materials, we studied cooperative absorption and emission in Yb/sub 3/Al/sub 3/O/sub 12/, Yb/sub 2/O/sub 3/, Yb:Y/sub 2/O/sub 3/, Yb:Lu/sub 2/O/sub 3/ and Yb:Sc/sub 2/O/sub 3/ laser related crystals. The bistability in cooperative luminescence in Yb(6%):Sc/sub 2/O/sub 3/ has been observed.