Using polarization effects in multiphoton ionization to measure ratios of bound-free matrix elements

It is shown that by measuring the ratio of the total two-photon ionization rate for circularly polarized light to that for linearly polarized, one can obtain the ratio of the nP to epsilon S and nP to epsilon D bound-free radial matrix elements. Also discussed is the case of three-photon ionization in which the ratio of the nD to epsilon P and nD to epsilon F bound-free radial matrix elements can be obtained.