SPIN-POLARIZED ELECTRON-EXCITATION OF NEON 3P(J=1) STATES

The angular momentum properties of incident transversely polarized ele ctrons and radiated photons have been combined with scattering symmetr ies to reveal the effects of exchange and spin-orbit coupling as well as some propensity rules for excitation and decay of the 3p states of the neon atom. Integrated Stokes parameters, P-1, P-2 and P-3, have be en measured for the decay radiations of wavelengths 616.4, 603.0, 626. 7, 638.3 and 703.3 nm from the 2p(5)3p'[1/2](1), 2p(5)3p'[3/2](1), 2p( 5)3p[3/2](1) and 2p(5)3p[1/2](1) states, respectively. While these sta tes are intermediately (jl) coupled, their LS compositions partially e xplain some phenomena. For the states having a dominant triplet compon ent, both the exchange and the spin-orbit interaction within the atom are important in the excitation, while the spin-orbit interaction play s the significant role for the state dominated by a singlet component. Decay photons from a common upper state with Delta J = 1 have larger linear polarization than those with Delta J = 0 and -1 while those fro m a P-2(1/2) core upper state have larger linear polarizations than th ose from a P-2(3/2) core upper state. The state multipoles are derived from the measured Stokes parameters. The influence of negative-ion re sonances near threshold on the Stokes parameters and the state multipo les is very strong in some cases. The core state effects on the alignm ent of excited states are investigated.