  We consider few-photon ionization of atomic lithium by linearly polarized
femtosecond laser pulses, and demonstrate that asymmetries of the electron
angular distribution can occur for initially polarized (2p, m=+1) target atoms.
The dependence of the photoelectron emission angle relative to the electric
field direction is investigated at different laser intensities and wavelengths.
The experimental spectra show excellent agreement with numerical solutions of
the time-dependent Schroedinger equation. In the perturbative picture, the
angular shift is traced back to interferences between partial waves with mean
magnetic quantum number <m>$\ne$0. This observation allows us to obtain quantum
mechanical information on the electronic final state.
