Quantum interference in laser spectroscopy of highly charged lithiumlike ions

We investigate the quantum interference induced shifts between energetically close states in highly charged ions, with the energy structure being observed by laser spectroscopy. In this work, we focus on hyperfine states of lithiumlike heavy-Z isotopes and quantify how much quantum interference changes the observed transition frequencies. The process of photon excitation and subsequent photon decay for the transition 2s→2p→2s is implemented with fully relativistic and full-multipole frameworks, which are relevant for such relativistic atomic systems. We consider the isotopes Pb79+207 and Bi80+209 due to experimental interest, as well as other examples of isotopes with lower Z, namely Pr56+141 and Ho64+165. We conclude that quantum interference can induce shifts up to 11% of the linewidth in the measurable resonances of the considered isotopes, if interference between resonances is neglected. The inclusion of relativity decreases the cross section by 35%, mainly due to the complete retardation form of the electric dipole multipole. However, the contribution of the next higher multipoles (e.g., magnetic quadrupole) to the cross section is negligible. This makes the contribution of relativity and higher-order multipoles to the quantum interference induced shifts a minor effect, even for heavy-Z elements.