Stimulated emission energy of an absorbed photon causes an identical but opposite atomic transition: from the lower level to a higher energy level. In normal media at thermal equilibrium, absorption exceeds stimulated emission because there are more electrons in the lower energy states than in the higher energy states. However, when a population inversion is present, the rate of stimulated emission exceeds that of absorption, and a net optical amplification can be achieved. Such a gain medium, along with an optical resonator, is at the heart of a laser or maser. Lacking a feedback mechanism, laser amplifiers and superluminescent sources also function
Neutron stimulated emission computed tomography sample with neutrons, the measured number of emitted gamma rays of energy characteristic to the nucleus of interest is directly proportional to the number of such nuclei along the incident neutron beam trajectory. After repeating the measurement for neutron beam incidence at positions around the sample, an image of the distribution of the nuclei in the sample can be reconstructed as done in tomography. Neutron stimulated emission computed tomography Neutron stimulated emission computed tomography (NSECT) uses induced gamma emission through neutron inelastic scattering to generate images of the spatial distribution of elements in a sample. NSECT has been shown to