Equations are derived for the polarisation of light emitted by impulsively excited atoms. A spontaneous electric dipole transition between Russell-Saunders terms is considered. The density matrix of the excited term is described by a double tensor expansion which allows for anisotropy in the directional distribution of the spin as well as the orbital angular momentum. Conditions are discussed under which one may test for the presence of spin anisotropy by polarisation measurements or zero-field quantum beats.
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David Ellis (1977) studied this question.
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