ANGULAR-MOMENTUM-TRANSFER FORMALISM FOR SPIN-POLARIZED ATOMIC PHOTOELECTRONS

A recently proposed definition of the angular-momentum transfer jt=lr-j (=l+s) is used to derive a formula for the distribution of spin-polarized E1 electrons ejected by photoionization in unpolarized atoms. The final expression is identical to one obtained earlier for the angular distribution of spin-resolved photoelectrons from freely rotating, unpolarized polyatomic molecules, except for the absence of an incoherent sum over the projection of jt due to the spherical nature of an atomic field and, of course, for a different set of reduced amplitudes. This, consequently, means that the same set of formulas (with these two minimal changes) can be used for the ionization of atomic as well as molecular targets. The present paper thus puts the theories for angle- and spin-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy of both atoms and molecules on the same footing. This approach has been used to analyze the currently observed spin-resolved photoionization in atomic ytterbium. © 1990 The American Physical Society.