Polarization dependent photoionization cross-sections and radiative lifetimes of atomic states in Ba

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The photoionization cross-sections of two even-parity excited states, 5d6d ³D₁ and 6s7d ³D₂, of atomic Ba at the ionization-laser wavelength of 556.6 nm were measured. We found that the total cross-section depends on the relative polarization of the atoms and the ionization-laser light. With density-matrix algebra, we show that, in general, there are at most three parameters in the photoionization cross-section. Some of these parameters are determined in this work. We also present the measurement of the radiative lifetime of five even-parity excited states of barium.