Observation of large quadrupolar effects in a slow photoelectron imaging experiment

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Dec 3;93(23):233003. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.233003. Epub 2004 Nov 30.

Abstract

We have studied nondipolar effects in resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization of Xe and have observed an azimuthal dependence of the photoelectron angular distribution on a quadrupole resonance, as well as a very large asymmetry with respect to the direction of the laser propagation close to the resonance, which is understood in terms of interference between dipole- and quadrupole-allowed ionization channels. The observed asymmetry in the photoelectron angular distribution provides insight into the ejection of slow photoelectrons near an ionization threshold.