We investigate the applicability of norm-conserving pseudopotentials to intense laser-matter interactions by performing time-dependent density functional theory simulations with an all-electron potential and with norm-conserving pseudopotentials. We find pseudopotentials to be reliable for the simulation of above-threshold ionization over a broad range of laser intensities both for the total ionization probability and the photoelectron energy spectrum. For the simulation of high-order-harmonic generation, pseudopotentials are shown to be applicable for lower-order harmonics in the spectral range in which the one-photon recombination dipole-matrix element can be recovered by the pseudopotential calculation.

• Received 20 July 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.92.043422