Efficient excess-photon detachment to lowest nonvanishing order is observed with long (\ensuremath{\sim}0.7 ns) optical pulses and intensities of \ensuremath{\le}6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}
109 W/
cm2. A Feshbach (``window'') resonance in ${\mathrm{Cs}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$ suppresses single-photon detachment, while simultaneously enhancing the probability of absorption of one or more excess photons. The perspectives for future spectroscopic excess-photon detachment and studies of direct two-electron multiphoton detachment are briefly discussed.
We report the measurement of the two-photon detachment spectrum of the
1De resonance of ${\mathrm{H}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ just below the
n=2 threshold. The excess photon detachment resonance fits a Fano profile with energy 10.872(2) eV (relative to ${\mathrm{H}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ ground state), a width of 0.0105(10) eV, and a shape parameter of $\ensuremath{-}8(2)$. To our knowledge, this describes the first time direct multiphoton excitation of a resonance has been observed in any negative atomic ion.