Inhaltsangabe1. Introduction to the Physics of Distributed Bistable Systems.- 2. Increasing Absorption Bistability.- 3. Hybrid Bistable Devices.- 4. Driven Nonlinear Interferometers.- 5. Nonlinear Radiation Reflection.- 6. Bistable Laser Schemes.- 7. Conclusion: Comparing Different Types of Optical Patterns.- A. Paraxial and Nonparaxial Radiation Propagation.- B. Constitutive Equations for Medium Nonlinear Polarization.- C. Transverse Structures and Digital Optical Computing.- D. Bistability of the Quantum Anharmonic Oscillator.- E. Transverse Effects for Squeezed States of Light.- References.