(Physical Review A, 2023-03-06) Jones, Evan C.; Andreula, Zachery P.; Walker, Barry C.
We have calculated the polarization and Stark-shifted binding energy for ultraintense lasers interacting with highly charged ions across the periodic table from beryllium to uranium at intensities up to 1022Wcm−2. The induced dipole and Stark shifts for the bound states can be as large as 0.1ea0 and 50Eh. Calculations of tunneling show the impacts of polarization and Stark shifts on the ionization rate are significant but counteracting. The work resolves a long-standing question of how field-free derivations of the tunneling response for highly charged ions have been quantitatively successful in relativistic, ultrahigh-intensity experiments. Using a scaling relationship, the results can be generalized to give the induced electric dipole for any species across an intensity range from 1015 to 1022Wcm−2.
