The Resonance Radiation Induced by Elliptically Polarized Light.

The angular distribution and polarization of the resonance radiation are deduced for elliptically polar- ized light incident on an atomic system of arbitrary initial and intermediate total angular momenta. The incident and re-radiated light are characterized by Stokes's representation, which allows an immediate generalization to partially polarized incident radiation. The results follow closely in form those deduced for free electron (Rayleigh) scattering but give, in general, a rather smaller degree of anisotropy for the resonance radiation. The results also determine the complete correlation, in polarization and direction of propagation, of two successive quanta emitted by a radiating system