Investigation of the multiphoton ionization of Ba atoms with photoelectron spectroscopy

An experimental and theoretical study is performed of the angular photoelectron distribution for three-photon ionization of Ba atoms through the 2ω-excited intermediate state 6p2(1S0) and the auto-ionized state 6p8s(3P1). Rotation of the polarization plane of dye-laser radiation allowed us to investigate the photoelectron angular distribution. Electrons were counted with the help of a time-of-flight electron spectrometer. Employing the density-matrix formalism, expressions have been obtained for angular dependence of the differential ionization probability. Possible experiments are discussed