Backscattered electrons (BSE) are high-energy electrons reflected back after elastic collisions with atoms in the sample.
They are commonly used in Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM) to produce compositional contrast in images.
Heavier elements backscatter more electrons, providing brighter regions in the SEM image for such areas.
This technique is not used in optical microscopes, TEMs, or X-ray diffraction analysis, which rely on entirely different principles.