Excited state lifetime
Lesson Flashcards: Spontaneous and Stimulated Emission Physics
The time interval in which an electron remains in an excited state before returning to a lower energy level
Ground state electron
A bound electron that is in the lowest energy state of an atom
Excited state electron
A bound electron that has had energy transferred to it to move it to a higher energy level
Spontaneous decay
An electron in an excited state returning to a lower energy level
Spontaneous emission
The emission of a photon by an excited state electron due to the electron returning to a lower energy level
Stimulated emission
The emission of a photon by an excited state electron due to the electron absorbing the energy of a photon