Manipulation of differential electron yields via autoionizing wave-packet control

Ultrashort laser pulses have been used to produce nonstationary Ca $4pnl$ autoionizing states via sudden isolated-core excitation of $4snl$ angular Rydberg wave packets. The angular distributions of the electrons ejected into the 4sεl and 3dεl continua are altered by varying the initial orientation of the $4snl$ angular wave packet. While the observed level of control is less than might be expected from an intuitive picture, it is in excellent agreement with R-matrix quantum-defect theory calculations.