Potential barrier effects in two-photon ionization processes

Potential barriers in the effective radial potential experienced by a photoexcited electron are shown to result in dramatic, resonancelike effects in two-photon ionization processes. In a two-photon ionization process, such potential barriers may affect not only the final state of the electron (as in ordinary photoionization), but also the intermediate-state electron wave packet corresponding to the absorption of one photon. We illustrate these effects for the generalized two-photon cross sections for ionization of Ar and Xe within a single-active-electron, central-potential model