Complete Characterizations of Intermediate and Final State Wave Functions with Photoionization of Polarized Rb

The amplitude and phase of a photoionization channel provide deep insights into the nature of ionization dynamics. Here, we propose a novel experimental approach to retrieve these parameters from the photoelectron momentum distribution (PMD), where a 400 nm femtosecond laser is used to ionize polarized Rb atoms prepared in the 5p state. The magnetic quantum numbers of polarized atoms are well controlled by breaking down the symmetry of the cooling laser in a magneto-optical trap reaction microscope. From the tilt angle of the PMD and the interference structure of εs and εd ionization channels, we are able to extract their relative amplitude and phase shift, in good agreement with ab initio calculations. This exhibits a benchmark one-photon single ionization study of the hydrogen-like atom, providing a complete measurement with full characterizations of intermediate and final state wave functions.