Polarization effect of laser field in inelastic electron hydrogen collisions

We study the influence of the laser polarization on the electron impact exc itation of atomic hydrogen. Our method takes into account the "dressing" of the target states by including the laser-atom interaction to first order t ime-dependent perturbation theory, while the interaction of the laser field with the incident electron is treated to all orders by using the non relat ivist Volkov function. The interaction of the fast projectile with the targ et atom is treated in the first Born approximation. The calculations are pe rformed via two distinct computations. The first one is based on a direct c alculation, the second based on a Sturmian approach. Important differences appear between the angular distributions depending on the polarization chos en.