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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Photoionization of Polarized Atoms Applications to Free Atoms and Ferromagnets

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Discussion of connections between different phenomena observed in seemingly different situations usually helps to better understanding of the physics of underlying processes. Some time ago Farago1 discussed analogies and contrasts between light polarization and electron spin polarization. He showed that though in both cases the same Stokes vector formalism2 can be applied, the analogies between them have rather limited validity. We will discuss here the applicability of equations derived for the description of photoionization of free polarized atoms3,4 to photoemission from ferromagnets5,6. We show that qualitative features of photoemission from core levels of ferromagnets are correctly reproduced by equations derived for free polarized atoms, while for a quantitative description one should take into account also the solid state effects. Recently7 it was shown that the qualitative analysis of angle- and spin-resolved photoemission from core levels of nonmagnetic solids (in that case from Cu) can be also performed using the equations derived for free atoms8.