Dorn, A., Elliott, A., Lower, J., Weigold, E., Berakdar, J., Engelns, A., Klar, H.
Orientational Dichroism in the Electron-Impact Ionization of Laser-Oriented Atomic Sodium
Physical Review Letters 80, (2),pp 257-260 (1998)
We report the first experimental observation of "orientational dichroism" in electron impact-induced ionization. (e,2e) experiments have been performed on pure angular momentum states 3P3/2, mF = +3 and mF = -3 of the sodium atom, excited by right- and left-handed circularly polarized laser light. Our results show that the angular correlation of the final-state electron pair is strongly dependent on the mL sublevel populated. Comparison with calculation demonstrates the dependence of the dichroism on details of the scattering dynamics.
ki-1998-o01