The scattering of partially polarized light by oriented atoms

A compact expression is derived for the cross section of scattering of arbitrarily polarized light by oriented atomic systems, in which the dependence on the geometric parameters and on the Stokes parameters preassigning the state of partial polarization of incident radiation is explicitly separated. It is found that the cross section of any photoprocess accompanied by photon absorption (stimulated emission) contains the sum of the products of the circular and linear dichroisms of the process by the respective Stokes parameters. The effect of the atomic orientation and of the dissipation of light energy on the polarization singularities and angular distribution of scattered light is investigated. In particular, it is demonstrated that, in the case of an open dissipation channel, the angular distribution remains dependent on the atomic orientation even in the case of zero degree of circular polarization of scattered radiation.