When a fluorophore absorbs a photon of light, an energetically excited state is formed. The fate
of this species is varied, depending upon the exact nature of the fluorophore and its
surroundings, but the end result is deactivation (loss of energy) and return to the ground state.
The main deactivation processes which occur are fluorescence (loss of energy by emission of a
photon), internal conversion and vibrational relaxation (non-radiative loss of energy as heat to
the surroundings), and intersystem crossing to the triplet manifold and subsequent non-radiative
deactivation.