Atoms in super-intense radiation fields

The behaviour of atoms in radiation fields that are strong enough to pull the electron directly out of the atom is discussed. Unexpectedly, there still exist atomic states under such conditions, that can have arbitrarily long lifetimes. In fact the lifetime of such states usually increases with intensity. This super-intense world of atomic spectroscopy features atomic states that look very different from the atomic structure we know and love. This can lead to very interesting dynamical processes.