The research emphasized detailed studies of elastic, and superelastic collisions of electrons with laser excited atoms, including measurements of azimuthal effects. These are a sensitive probe of the details of the interactions between the free and bound electron during the collision. Atomic beam recoil spectroscopy is exploited to perform absolute cross section measurements. The experimental geometry enables the study of ionization of laser excited Na, including the angular distribution of the scattered electrons. In addition, earlier polarizability measurements will be extended to the study of atomic clusters of up to order five for alkali metals and alkali halides.
