The Stark effect is the shifting and splitting of spectral lines of atoms and molecules due to the presence of an external electric field. It is the electric-field analogue of the Zeeman effect, where
Lithium Rydberg-level spectrum as a function of the electric field near n = 15 for m = 0. Note how a complicated pattern of the energy levels emerges as the electric field increases, not unlike bifurcations of closed orbits in classical dynamical systems leading to chaos.