Coherent excitation of Xe[3/2]106sby 30-eV electrons

Abstract
Electron-impact excitation of the [3/2]10 6s state of xenon has been studied at 30 eV and over a range of scattering angles up to 50°. Linear and circular polarization correlation measurements show very good agreement with distorted-wave Born-approximation calculations. For the experimental parameters under consideration, the excitation is demonstrated to be completely coherent. Hyperfine depolarization of the excited-state charge cloud is found to be an important effect.