Quantum-number–dependent energy level shifts of ions in dense plasmas: A generalized analytical approach

¹ State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics Shanghai 201800, PRC
² Sorbonne Universités, Pierre et Marie Curie, UMR 7605, LULI - case 128, 4 Place Jussieu, F-75252 Paris Cedex 05 France, EU
³ Ecole Polytechnique, Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, Physique Atomique dans les Plasmas Denses - F-91128 Palaiseau, France, EU

^(a) xiangdong_li@mail.siom.ac.cn

Received: 11 May 2012
Accepted: 4 July 2012

Abstract

Dense plasma effects on bound energy levels have been studied with relativistic atomic structure simulations that include intermediate coupling and configuration interaction. A general analytical formula is proposed that predicts the energy of LSJ-split levels for wide conditions of density and finite temperature and any atomic element. The achieved precision of the analytical approach allowed even to describe energy level crossings and the breakdown of level degeneration induced by dense plasma effects. Finally, a further simplification of the proposed method is developed that requests only information on energy level energies and quantum numbers of isolated atoms that are readily available.