Polarization and Interference Effects in Ionization of Li by Ion Impact

We present initial-state selective fully differential cross sections for ionization of lithium by 24 MeV O8 ⁺ impact. The data for ionization from the 2s and 2p states look qualitatively different from each other and from 1s ionization of He. For ionization from the 2p state, to which in our study the m _L =-1 substate predominantly contributes, we observe orientational dichroism and for 2s ionization pronounced interference which we trace back to the nodal structure of the initial-state wave function.