Photoionization of polarized atoms

The angular distributions of photoelectrons ejected from polarized atoms are derived for different coupling cases and presented in vector form convenient for different applications. It is shown that the differences between two angular distributions corresponding to two orthogonal linear or circular polarizations (which are called linear or circular dichroism in the angular distribution, respectively), or to two directions of the initial atomic polarizations (opposite or mutually perpendicular), enables one to extract from experimental data more specific information on atoms. In particular, one can extract from these differences the state multipoles characterizing the initial atomic polarization. The general theory is illustrated by calculations for the 6p subshell of Tl atoms in the region of the 6s6p 2 ( 2 D 3 2/) autoionization resonance. The results can be applied to photoionization of any np 1 subshell in autoionization resonances with J= 3 / 2 or 5 / 2 .