Alignment of high Rydberg states in hydrogen

We have measured the light yields and polarizations of the light emitted from several Balmer transitions in atomic hydrogen following beam foil excitation of protons at energies of 50 to 150 keV. The polarizations have been measured as a function of distance downbeam from the exciter foil for several transitions. The measurements indicate a very strong initial alignment which is then perturbed by surface fields out to several mm from the surface. 8 references, 7 figures