STIMULATED-EMISSION ON MICROSCOPIC SCALE - LIGHT QUENCHING OF PYRIDINE-2 USING A TI-SAPPHIRE LASER

We report the realization of stimulated emission on a microscopic scal e. An experiment is presented describing significant depopulation of t ile excited state of the fluorophore Pyridine 2 with a mode-locked Ti: Sapphire laser, Stimulated emission is performed at 750 nm and excitat ion at the frequency doubled wavelength of 375 nm. The pulses are sync hronized so that the stimulating pulse follows the excitation pulse af ter 5 ps. The set-up is a modified 4Pi-confocal microscope employing o ne of the objective lenses for excitation and the opposing one for sti mulated emission.