My. Agre et Nl. Manakov, ATOMIC ORIENTATION EFFECTS IN LIGHT-SCATTERING DUE TO DISSIPATIVE PROCESSES, Journal of physics. B, Atomic molecular and optical physics, 29(1), 1996, pp. 7-12
It is shown that new effects in light scattering by oriented atoms and
in orientation of an unpolarized atomic target due to the light scatt
ering arise when channels of dissipation for the light energy are open
. Thus, in scattering of linearly-polarized or unpolarized light, the
degree of linear polarization and the angular distribution of scattere
d light depend on the initial atomic orientation. On the other hand, t
he orientation of unpolarized atoms appears in the scattering of unpol
arized photons without registration of the scattered photon polarizati
on. The orientation vector is perpendicular to the scattering plane, a
nd the effect can be observed in a coincidence experiment.