Armstrong, G. S. J.Colgan, J.Pindzola, M. S.Amami, S.Madison, D. H.Pursehouse, J.Nixon, K. L.Murray, A. J.2020-07-312020-07-312015-09-11https://hdl.handle.net/2097/40772Recent measurements have examined the electron-impact ionization of excited-state laser-aligned Mg atoms. In this work we show that the ionization cross section arising from the geometry where the aligned atom is perpendiculartothescatteringplanedirectlyprobestheunnaturalparitycontributionstotheionizationamplitude. The contributions from natural parity partial waves cancel exactly in this geometry. Our calculations resolve the discrepancy between the nonzero measured cross sections in this plane and the zero cross section predicted by distorted-wave approaches. We demonstrate that this is a general feature of ionization from p-state targets by additional studies of ionization from excited Ca and Na atoms.This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).Text