Spin‐polarization, orientation, and alignment in electron‐atom collisions

The use of state‐selection techniques has added greatly to our fundamental understanding of electron‐atom collision phenomena. In particular, measurements of atomic orientation and alignment in electron impact excitation, and measurements of spin dependence in both elastic and inelastic scattering, provide substantially more detail about collision processes than conventional measurements of differential cross sections alone. This work reviews recent experiments which, through the use of spin dependence and atomic orientation and alignment, attempt to provide the most complete characterization possible of electron‐atom collision phenomena.