Cross-coupled photon avalanche drives room-temperature intrinsic optical bistability
Eva Conour, Jacob Wojcik, Jory Sanders, Abigale Puccini, Trey Stephens-Cherry, Artiom Skripka · arXiv: 2610.32032v1 · Summary page
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Optical memory without a cavity or cooling
An optically bistable material can sustain different light-output states under the same illumination, depending on its history. That makes it attractive for optical switching and memory, but such behavior often requires cooling or relies on heating. A new preprint reports intrinsic optical bistability at room temperature in holmium-activated nanocrystals, without an optical cavity.
The proposed mechanism is a cross-coupled photon avalanche: linked excited-state populations reinforce one another, while a low-phonon-energy host reduces nonradiative losses. Time-resolved luminescence showed a double-rise profile consistent with the proposed coupled reservoirs. Bistability appeared across multiple visible emission lines, crystal sizes and host compositions. These properties make the materials candidates for optical information processing and sensing, although the reported switching behavior is not itself a demonstration of a working information-processing system.
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