Wave-mixing effects in resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization of xenon in Bessel beams

Three-photon-resonant excitation and subsequent ionization of xenon at high concentrations has been studied utilizing both Bessel and Gaussian beams. Comparisons of analogous results with the two modes of focusing are made. The excitation-ionization profiles can be analyzed on the basis of the well-studied interference effect involving combined contributions of three- and one-photon transition amplitudes in resonant atomic excitation. We show that the principal features of the excitation problem with Bessel beams can be simulated by a simple picture involving crossed plane-wave beams. Using this approach it has been shown that pressure-broadened and shifted lines that result from the interference-based cooperative Lorentzian line shift constitutes the main pressure-dependent peak of off-resonance excitation profiles produced in Bessel beams.