Which way does stimulated emission go?

TL;DR

This paper investigates how stimulated emission and Rayleigh scattering from excited chromophores can be used for optical imaging, revealing different dependencies and suggesting new imaging approaches.

Contribution

It demonstrates that stimulated emission is inherently linked to Rayleigh scattering and explores their potential for novel optical imaging techniques.

Findings

Stimulated emission accompanies excited state Rayleigh scattering.

Different scattering processes have distinct directional and wavelength dependencies.

New imaging methods leveraging excited state scattering are proposed.

Abstract

Is it possible to form an image using light produced by stimulated emission? Here we study light scatter off an assembly of excited chromophores. Due to the Optical Theorem, stimulated emission is necessarily accompanied by excited state Rayleigh scattering. Both processes can be used to form images, though they have different dependencies on scattering direction, wavelength and chromophore configuration. Our results suggest several new approaches to optical imaging using fluorophore excited states.