Dependence of photoelectron angular distributions on the magnitude of hyperfine interaction in hydrogen-like targets in a pump-probe scheme

In the paper, we examine the ionization of a hydrogen-like target in a pump-probe scheme. We analyze the polarization of the target during pumping its levels with total angular momentum of the electron shell 1/2 and 3/2 by a linearly or circularly polarized field. We examine the extent to which the polarization of the prepared (pumped) state can degrade due to hyperfine interactions. Depolarization itself is a phenomenon that manifests itself in a wide variety of processes. This work examines the manifestation of depolarization in the angular distributions of photoelectrons during subsequent ionization by a field also polarized linearly or circularly (with helicity equal or opposite to the pump field).